Diary of a Missing Girl
by hansbmd
Summary: Formerly "Missing Character from Harry Potter." This is the diary of Leslie Angkatell, the missing fourth member of Harry, Ron and Hermione's group. This is the series seen through her eyes, with some details changed. Look inside for full summary.
1. January 2, 1999

**Author's Note: **All right everyone, I've been writing this for a little while now. It's the diary of the missing fourth member of Harry, Ron and Hermione's team, the girl who was never mentioned in any of the books. This entire story is basically the entire series from her point of view, her thoughts, her opinions as to all of the occurrences. I've also changed some details from the books so that they work with this story. The biggest one that I'll go ahead and tell you is that in my version, Cedric does not die! Actually he's this girl's love interest, so he's not going to die. I don't want to put her into that sort of position. But anyway, please enjoy the story, and if you don't like it, or if something doesn't make sense, please just tell me. Enjoy!

01-02-1999

Dear Diary,

I know you and I are going to be fast friends, for there are times in every girl's life when she needs someone to confide in, but she doesn't know who to turn to. A journal is the perfect place for one to hide all her secrets. This is the most perfect gift I've ever gotten.

Since you and I will be spending a lot of time together, I thought I'd start by introducing myself. My name is Leslie Angkatell and today is my ninth birthday. You, little diary, were a gift from my uncle. Uncle Jerry is the best uncle a girl could wish for, and also the only family I have. Mom and Dad died when I was only a year old, and I think it's only right that I tell you how they died.

The next thing you need to know, before I tell you, is that I'm a witch. I know it may seem hard to believe, but yes, I am. My mother was a witch, and my father and uncle are both wizards. There is an entire wizarding world, separate from the Muggle world. Oh, Muggle is a term that means non-magic folk. None of the Muggles know about us, unless of course, a wizard or witch is Muggleborn, which does happen sometimes. And if we hadn't started marrying Muggles, we'd have died out. There are very few Pureblood wizards left.

Not all wizards are good, some go bad. A few years ago, there was one who went as bad as you can go. Most in the wizarding world are still scared to speak his name, but Uncle Jerry never was and neither am I. His name was Voldemort. I'm used to everyone saying You-know-who or He-who-must-not-be-named whenever he's mentioned, and I always have to remember to say that when I'm around others, but when it's just my uncle and I, we use his real name.

But eight years ago, when I was a year old, he was defeated. There was a boy, my age, who defeated him. At least I think he's my age, he was a year old himself. His name is Harry Potter, and Voldemort went to his house in Godric's Hollow, killed his parents and tried to kill him. But for some reason, the curse backfired upon its owner and he was destroyed. Well, at least his body was destroyed, some say he's still out there somewhere, which I believe. Though I want to believe the contrary, I know he'll be back someday and I get the feeling there will be nothing we can do.

Now Harry has gone to live with his Muggle aunt and uncle, and doesn't know what happened. It's said that he even has a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. The wizarding world has gone back to normal for the most part. But it took a long time, several months before it was back to normal.

But things get worse, and now we get to the part of my own parent's death. The week after Harry defeated Voldemort, his followers, the Death Eaters were all being rounded up. I lived in a small village in the English countryside at the time, called Southampton Cove. It was called that because we were fairly close to the seaside, and there was a small inlet which curved close to the village. It was a small place, only one central lane with all the shops, and small roads branching off of it, which was where all the houses were. It was small, but quaint and quiet, and if anyone needed to go out, we were just twenty miles west of Carlisle.

I lived in a small cottage at the edge of town with my parents and my older sister. Her name was Elena. She was six at the time and I was a year old. It was the week after Halloween and the village was already starting to make preparations for Thanksgiving. They always made a big to-do about Thanksgiving; the whole town had a feast.

One night, a week after Voldemort's downfall, some of the Death Eaters appeared in the area. They wanted revenge for what had happened to their master and decided to attack our home. It was an entirely wizarding village, so it was perfect for them to vent some rage. They went through the entire place, destroying every single building, turning every brick into a pile of rubble. Everyone that stood up to them ended up dead. They went through all the houses, killing even the smallest child. The last house they came to was ours.

Dad heard the screaming from outside and knew what was happening. He and Uncle Jerry went out to help with the fight, while Mom grabbed Elena and I to try and get us to safety. One Death Eater in particular was called Bellatrix Lestrange, and she knew we had gone. She was the most ruthless Death Eater there was, she even used the Cruciatus Curse on someone else's parents, but she got away with it. She'd done her research on the entire village, knew the names of all the people, and she knew we'd gone. She left the fight to her friends and came after Mom, Elena and I. Uncle Jerry saw her go, and tried to warn Dad. But one of the Death Eaters hit Dad with a curse, and he was gone. Uncle Jerry killed that Death Eater in turn, angry for losing his brother. All the rest of the villagers were gone by this point and the Death Eaters were either killed, injured or had fled. He ran into the woods after us, hoping he wouldn't get there too late.

Mom had gotten fairly far with Elena and I, but no matter where she ran, Bellatrix could catch up with her. She knew she'd have to fight. Poor Mom, she never liked fighting. She handed me to Elena and told her to keep running. Apparently, Mom and Bellatrix had one heck of a battle going, but she didn't make it. Bellatrix made quick work of her, then she went after Elena. Being six, Elena couldn't run very fast and that horrid woman killed her in a second. I fell to the ground and was apparently crying a lot. What do you expect? I was a baby. Bellatrix was about to finish me off, but then Uncle Jerry arrived at that moment and stopped her. They fought for several minutes before reinforcements arrived. Bellatrix was arrested and sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison.

You're never really whole again, after you lose your family. But you get over it. Uncle Jerry took me in and we've lived together ever since. We bought a flat in London and have lived there together. I love London, but it's not the town I lived in with Mom and Dad. I've been going to a private girl's school, so I can get some education and the Muggle police won't take me away from my uncle. But no one likes spending time with me, they all think I'm weird.

I can do some really strange things, particularly when I'm angry or scared. Once when some girls were picking on me, I flicked my hand at them and a bunch of spiders fell from the ceiling on top of them. Another time, I was climbing up to the roof of our house and almost fell. One thing I loved to do was climb out of the top window and sit on the roof to watch the stars or the sunset or something. My foot slipped on the way up and I almost fell off the roof. But then, it was as though the wind caught me and lifted me up onto the roof.

That was when I found out I was a witch. Uncle Jerry told me the whole story that night. He told me about my heritage, that I was a Pureblood witch, and he told me of how my parents and my sister had died. Most would have waited until I was a teenager before telling me, but he was raising me to be a strong young girl, and he knew I could take it at the age I was at. And he was right. Honesty is after all the best policy, wouldn't you agree? Then to that, most of my uncle's friends would say, honesty is desirable, but not always advisable. But I believe in speaking my mind. Uncle Jerry has trained me well.

While I was shocked at finding out what happened to my parents, I knew that at the time there was nothing I could have done, and also that it was better not to brood on the past. But not a day goes by where I don't think of them. My most precious possession is a locket, a gold, heart-shaped locket, which I don't believe I have ever taken off. Once it fell off, and I went absolutely berserk looking for it, but finally I found it under my bed. When you open it, you see two pictures, one of my parents on the left, and one of my sister on the right. Just wearing it makes me feel as though they're still with me. I was shocked when I saw my mother. She looks exactly me, the same long blonde hair, the same blue eyes, the same fair skin. Elena took after my father in looks, short brown hair, but with our mother's blue eyes. My name is even somewhat like my mother's. My name is Leslie, and hers was Lydia. Dad's name was Edward.

Sometimes, when I lie in bed at night, I wish that they were still here with me. I wish that they would be there to see me go to school, graduate, get married, have children. But they won't be there for any of those times. And then, when I fall asleep, I revisit the night they died in my dreams.

It's an awful dream. I see several shadowy figures running around. It starts out with a tall woman, with long blonde hair, running as fast as she can. That has to be my mother. She's carrying a baby in one arm and her other hand is holding that of a young girl, which is Elena. Then, a figure all in black appears out of thin air. All I can see of her is a black cloud, and I think that is the Death Eater that killed my mother. All I know is her name, I've never seen her face. Then it skips to the young girl running ahead with the baby in her arms, tripping over a tree root and screaming as a jet of green light hits her. Then I see that shadow of black again, moving directly above me.

Right at that moment is usually when I wake up. Everything happens very quickly, as though all of these events are just flashes. I always wake up in a cold sweat, breathing hard. I started having these dreams a few weeks before I found out the truth of my parent's death. When I finally told Uncle Jerry, he admitted the truth about what happened. That night, I had the dream again, and this time, I could see everyone's faces clearly, including that woman's. Bellatrix Lestrange had the most twisted face I've ever seen, I can't even begin to describe it, and I'd really rather not. Ever since then, I've had that dream once every ten days or so. I don't think I'll ever be rid of it.

The only comfort I have is that Bellatrix Lestrange is locked up, and can never hurt me again. Azkaban is said to be an impossible fortress to penetrate or escape, so she can't come after me. So instead of worrying and brooding over her and the past, I think of my future.

In two years, when I'm eleven, I'll go to a school called Hogwarts. It's a wizarding school that trains all the witches and wizards of the British Isles. I don't know exactly where it is, but from what I've heard, I think it's somewhere close to the border between England and Scotland, because the village of Hogsmeade, close to the school is in Scotland. I can't wait until I start there and begin my training to become a full-fledged witch. And if Harry Potter is my age, I'll probably meet him when I go to Hogwarts, maybe even be in the same class with him!

I know this is a long entry and you might as well get used to that little diary. This book is spelled, so that it will never run out of pages, unless I choose for it to, and I don't think I ever will. I'll never stop writing. It's been a good birthday, but it's late and I want to get some sleep.

Sweet dreams,

Leslie

All right, it may not be that long, but in terms of how this would look in a diary, it's long. Tell me what you think of the first chapter, and if you think there's something I need to do to change it. Don't forget to review!


	2. June 9, 1999

**Author's Note: **All right, now this may seem a little forward, but I want to go ahead and introduce Cedric into the chapter. He's going to play a vital role in Leslie's life and future as a witch. In this part, I go ahead and make him her best friend. And by the time a couple more chapters roll around, they'll definitely be really good friends, very best friends. But in about twenty more chapters, a relationship will start to develop. I'm going to go ahead and say that out loud because it's obvious they're going to be a couple by the time we make it to the parts about the third and fourth books. I'll explain a couple more things down at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

06-09-1999

Dear Diary,

I know my last few entries haven't been very interesting, just an account of my day, but today, I have something juicy for you. Well, not really juicy, but certainly more interesting than my last few accounts. You know I've never had many friends, on account of the fact that everyone at the girl's school I go to thinks that I'm a freak and won't come anywhere near me. The only people I am friends with are people I know are from Pureblood families like me. That doesn't mean I think I'm better or they are, heavens no. I'm not one of those stuck up witches who think that they can boss people around just because I'm a Pureblood. I despise people like that. I'm just saying that I know people from other wizarding families and they are my only friends.

But anyway, tonight my uncle took me to dinner at the house of one his friends, name of Amos Diggory. Mr. Diggory works at the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Uncle Jerry works in the Improper Use of Magic Office, and they've been working together on some kind of project for awhile. Uncle Jerry didn't tell me any of the details, he never does. Most of the time, I can never understand what he's talking about anyway. But now the project is over, and he said that Mr. Diggory wanted to meet me, and Uncle Jerry wants me to meet him and his family. So Mr. Diggory invited us to dinner at his house and Uncle Jerry accepted.

When Uncle Jerry said that we were going over to his friend's house for dinner, I had a strange feeling that something was going to happen. He had a sly look in his eye, as though there was someone or something there that he wanted me to interact with. And I soon found out what it was, or should I say, _who_ it was.

In spite of that, I thought it would be a boring night, but it wasn't. Amos has a son, his name is Cedric and he's really cute. He's starting Hogwarts this year, and he's really excited about it. He told me he can't wait to get his acceptance letter and start buying his school supplies, and begin reading his books.

After we were introduced, Mrs. Diggory announced dinner, and we made our way into the dining room. Cedric led me in, and as we walked, I caught Uncle Jerry's eye. He was giving me another sly look, and a grin this time. I realized that this was what he had in mind all along, he wanted me to meet Cedric. Which actually is fine by me, because I liked him, I liked him very much.

All through dinner, Cedric and I talked and talked, and he's actually a very charming boy, and very kind. He complimented me and said some very charming things to me, like what a pleasure it was to meet me, and that I was going to be a very talented witch by the time I finished Hogwarts.

I just blushed and said, "I don't know about that. All I can do is the most random things when I'm angry or scared." I told him what I did to a couple of girls once, when they were making fun of me, and he just laughed and said they had it coming. I was glad that he at least took my side.

After dinner, he took me out to the backyard and we sat in the grass and watched the stars. He knows a lot about the constellations, and told me about some of them and a few of the stars. Apparently, his father is really interested in astronomy and has taught Cedric a few things. There's an astronomy class at Hogwarts, he told me, and he says that he should do all right in that course, but he doesn't know about any of the others.

I asked him about Hogwarts and he told me everything he could, which wasn't much considering he hasn't started yet. All he told me was basically the same that Uncle Jerry told me. He said that there are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. He wants to be in Hufflepuff, because that's the house both his parents were in, and he wants to continue the tradition. He didn't tell me how the students are sorted though, his father wouldn't tell him. I think both Amos Diggory and Uncle Jerry are saving that for when Cedric and I are both there, then we can see for ourselves.

He named the different subjects: Defense against the Dark Arts, which is a bit of a joke apparently, from what he's heard from friends who've already started. He wears a turban, stutters profusely, and is scared of his own shadow. Then there's Herbology, Charms and Transfiguration, all different aspects of magic.

What I'm really not looking forward to is Astronomy, because I don't like staying up late at night, and I'd have to go up to the tower at midnight. I prefer to go to bed early, so I'll be well rested for the coming day.

The one I'm looking forward to the most is Potions, because I love the idea of working with different chemicals and ingredients and seeing what combinations of them can do. Cedric says not to get too excited about it though. He's heard from his friends that the potions master, Professor Snape, doesn't like any of the students, save the ones in his own house, Slytherin. He favors them, none of the others. He particularly hates Gryffindor's apparently.

I'm not sure what I'll think of Hogwarts, and I said as much to Cedric. He said that it was just nerves and that I'd do great, that I'd be a really talented witch.

"Listen to me Leslie," he said to me. "I think you're just nervous because it means that you'll be away from home and from the uncle who's raised you into the girl you are. But you'll get over that and soon you'll have more friends than you can count, the best magical education in the world, and a second home. Everything will turn out fine, you wait and see."

And you know what, I believed him. I can't wait to go and I can't wait to see him there. He'll probably be the one who'll help me get settled in. I'm only nine years old, and I think I'm developing a crush on him. It's probably nothing, but at least I'll have a friend there already when I start.

When Uncle Jerry and I got ready to go home, Cedric actually gave me a hug and said he had a great time with me tonight. I wonder if he felt my heart skip a beat when he put his arms around me. I think I felt his skip a beat as well.

You know how some girls go to bed at night dreaming of what their one true love will be like? Well, tonight I think I'll go to sleep dreaming of Cedric. He is absolutely perfect. I can't wait until I see him at Hogwarts. In fact, I can't wait to see him again period. I met someone very special and dear to my heart tonight and I'll never forget it, as long as I live.

Sweet dreams,

Leslie

All right, so I've set the foundation for the relationship these two are going to build. But don't worry, it won't be serious for several more years in Harry Potter time. Right now, these two are friends, good friends, and that's all. But soon, they're going to want more than just friendship. I'll post back soon, and hopefully, you guys will remember to review!


	3. July 31, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead two years in Harry Potter time when Leslie's eleven years old, and this is the part where she's going to Diagon Alley to get her books and supplies. She's excited, she wants to meet people, she wants to read her books, she wants to see Cedric in the alley. But here's the exciting part, she gets to meet Harry.

**Side Note**: You guys, keep in mind this in diary format, so they're going to be dates at the top. Keep your eye on the dates, that'll help you keep track of where we are in the story. Happy reading!

07-31-2001

Dear Diary,

Well, here I am, eleven, and ready to go to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, it's another month before I actually leave for school. Term starts on September 1st, but I just got my acceptance letter a few days ago and Uncle Jerry was ecstatic. He said he was so proud that I was going to follow in the footsteps of my parents and grandparents and ancestors, and go to the best school of wizardry in the world.

I was pleased at what he said, but then he said something that made my eyes well up with tears a little bit. He said he could just see the look on my father's face, and know that he'd be saying the exact same thing right now. He said, "Edward would be running around like a maniac trying to get you ready for Hogwarts, he'd be so proud. And dear sweet Lydia, she would be giving you the biggest hugs and kisses she possibly could." It made me a little sad to think of my dead parents and sister. I wonder what Elena would've thought. She would be starting her sixth year at Hogwarts, were she still alive, and she'd already be in all the advanced level classes. But at least, she'd be around to give me pointers for my first two years.

All the same, it was with an excited heart that I went to buy my school books today. The place where you buy all your school supplies is Diagon Alley, but unfortunately, Uncle Jerry was so tied up with work today that he can't take me. We don't even have a free day within the next three weeks to go shopping. I'm used to him having to work late nights, but sometimes it just gets lonely, particularly when he has to do it on and off for weeks. I told him we could wait until the end of the month, say a few days before I leave, but he says that won't work. He says by the time we get around to it, all the good robes and books and supplies will be gone and I won't have had time to look through my books. He wants me to read a couple of them before I leave to go ahead and get a feel for the different subjects.

I wish I could have more time with Uncle Jerry before I leave, but I know it's going to be hard, and I'll miss him so much. But he does take care of me, and I know he loves me, that's all that matters, right?

He arranged for a man called Hagrid to take me to Diagon Alley, which works out because Hagrid was going to take someone else anyway. Well, I shouldn't say a man, Hagrid really isn't a man. He's more like a giant. He must be at least eight feet tall, possibly nine.

He may be big, but he's kind. He showed up outside our flat this morning about noon and I ran outside to meet him. Uncle Jerry by this point has gotten used to leaving me at home on my own. When I was a baby, he got a governess to stay with me, but then when I turned eleven, he began leaving me on my own. He knows I can take care of myself, he just makes sure I know all the rules about staying on my own. He said that when Hagrid got there, just make sure to lock up and stay with him at all times.

And what a surprise! When Hagrid came to our house, guess who he had with him? Harry Potter! The boy who defeated Voldemort! I couldn't believe I was actually going shopping in Diagon Alley with a living legend. I was speechless for a few minutes, and when I finally did find my voice again, I was stuttering profusely, it was so embarrassing. But he didn't seem to mind. He just laughed and said, "it's nice to meet you, and please, I'm just a regular boy."

I wanted to say, "but you're not," but I restrained myself. First of all, it would be rude, and Uncle Jerry has paid a lot of money for me to learn etiquette at the girl's school I've been going to the last few years. Second, after all Harry's been through, he probably does want to be thought of as a normal boy, but that's never going to happen. When we went into the Leaky Cauldron this morning, people were lining up to shake his hand and say what a pleasure it was for him to be back in the wizarding world. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he wasn't used to it. He told me that he only found out what was going on this morning. He spent ten whole years not knowing what had happened between him and Voldemort. Every person, every child in our world knows his name, yet he didn't know the story until several hours ago. He doesn't seem too keen to pursue the subject, I'd want to know everything I could if it was me.

But considering he didn't have any other magical family, growing up away from the magical world was probably the best thing for him. I'm going to have to remember not to bring the subject of Voldemort up, and I'm going to have to particularly remember not to say his name. I don't think Harry minds saying it, mostly because he isn't used to how people shudder and flinch whenever they hear it. I think I'll be all right saying it when it's just the two of us, but Hagrid apparently doesn't like it. No one much does.

While we were in the Leaky Cauldron, we met Professor Quirrell. Cedric wasn't kidding. He does stutter uncontrollably. The poor man really does look as though he expects something will jump out and attack him at any moment. I saw that turban as well. It smelled a little funny and I'd sure like to know what's under it, but I know better than to ask. Maybe I'll find out sometime in my seven years at Hogwarts. I contemplated asking where he'd gone that made him stutter like that, because according to what I've heard he wasn't always like that, but I knew better than to ask that as well. Uncle Jerry wouldn't be happy if he found I asked either of those questions. He's the soul of manners.

After battling our way through the crowds, Harry, Hagrid and I made it to the backyard, where there was nothing but a brick wall. But Hagrid took out a pink umbrella, tapped one of the bricks and it opened up to reveal Diagon Alley. You should have seen the look on Harry's face when he saw it. He was absolutely stunned, looking all over the place, trying to catch it all in one glimpse. I just watched amusedly. I've been here before of course, but haven't actually bought much of anything. I come here with Uncle Jerry when he wants to go to the bank and buy a few things he needs, and he sometimes lets me borrow the books he buys from Flourish and Blotts.

Our first stop was the bank, Gringotts. It's run by goblins and I can tell you with certainty, goblins are nasty creatures. They're clever, especially when it comes to gold and jewels, but they're not very friendly and I'm a little scared of them. I try to stay close to Uncle Jerry when I come here. I'm also lucky Uncle Jerry remembered to leave me the key to his vault.

When my parents died, he inherited most of their money, the rest is kept in trust for me until I turn 21. My parents were two of the wealthiest people in England, by wizard standing. They just preferred to live a simple life in a quiet English village, not spending excessive amounts of money. Uncle Jerry says that when he dies, all the money is supposed to go to me, his own money, the gold he inherited from my parents and the trust fund. All my family's savings will be mine.

It's complicated, because my family for centuries has had rules of inheritance to try and facilitate the passing of the family fortune to the next heir. Typically, the fortune goes to the oldest child when he turns twenty-one. That's if it's a boy. If it's a girl, she inherits when she's twenty-one or when she marries, whichever comes first. Uncle Jerry has already warned me later on about boys trying to start a relationship with me because they want my money. He's heard countless stories in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds about young, wealthy women who leave all their money to their husband or fiancée and he ends up deceiving her, then murdering her for it. I assured him that wouldn't happen to me.

Now in my case, it's more complicated because my father never liked the fact that he got all the money and Uncle Jerry didn't get a penny. So, he made a loophole in his will, which said that when he died, half the money was supposed to go to Uncle Jerry, the other half was to remain in trust for Elena until she was twenty-one. If she had lived, she would inherit the money in about five years. Since she is dead, the fortune will go to me.

The money held in trust for me is being stored in my parent's old vault. That is to remain untouched until I come of age. Until then, I use the money from Uncle Jerry's vault. The key to my parent's old vault is being guarded in Gringott's to make sure no one touches it. So thankfully, Uncle Jerry left me his key so I could get the money from his vault. When he dies, his money will pass along and be transferred to my parent's vault, so I'll have the entire fortune. Basically, when I turn 21, I'll be one of the richest witches in the country.

While not being the full amount, half the fortune is still a considerable amount of money, and I was afraid that when we got down to Uncle Jerry's vault, Harry would feel a trifle overwhelmed and somewhat downcast. He did as a matter of fact. He seemed to enjoy the ride in the carts to get to the vault, though I never do. It always makes me feel as though I'm going to be sick. Hagrid didn't look like he was having a good time either. When we got to the vault, the goblin known as Griphook took my uncle's key and opened the vault. I went in with a bag and grabbed some gold Galleons out of my vault. I also took some silver Sickles and bronze Knuts, but I doubted I needed all of it.

When we got to Harry's vault, I was surprised. I didn't know he had so much money. He didn't either apparently. The vault was filled with gold and silver coins, not as many as in Uncle Jerry's vault, but a substantial amount nonetheless.

"Didn't think yer Mom and Dad would leave you with nothing now, did ya?" asked Hagrid.

But then something strange happened. The last vault we went to was Vault 713, because Hagrid needed to retrieve something to take back to the school. I don't know whose vault it was, but it had very high security. There's no lock, instead the goblin strokes it, and it opens up for it. I won't tell you what happens when someone other than a goblin tried that. But inside, there was just a small, grubby little parcel. Harry and I exchanged puzzled glances as Hagrid got it and put it in his pocket. We asked Hagrid what it was, but he said it was Hogwarts business and he couldn't tell us. The two of us wondered what it was, but then forgot about it when we started shopping.

We went through all the shops getting robes and books and everything else. There was a particularly nasty boy in Madame Malkin's robe shop, who said some things I didn't approve of. He looked familiar, but I can't think where I've seen him before. I think he recognized me though, my face is a very familiar one in the wizarding world. When he wasn't speaking, I took over the conversation, I could tell Harry didn't understand most of what he was saying. I explained it all later.

When this boy said that he wanted to be in Slytherin, I said, "you would actually volunteer to go into the house that has spurted out the most dark witches and wizards than any other?"

"Yes," he said, and he looked at me strangely, as though daring to say otherwise.

I dearly wanted to say, "well, have fun working for the dark side. Don't come crying to me when it all blows up in your face." But I refrained. All the same, I did say, "just try not to be too vindictive, else you'll have no friends."

Thankfully, Harry and I were able to leave at that point, and he couldn't do or say anything against me. Hagrid got ice cream for Harry and I, and we explained to him what that boy had been talking about.

We went all over the place and Hagrid even bought Harry an owl for his birthday. When I found out it was his birthday, I started getting all nervous and saying I didn't have a birthday gift for him. He said that was all right, he didn't really want one anyway, but he was glad for the owl. She's a beautiful snowy white owl and I can't wait to hear what Harry's going to name her.

Uncle Jerry has an owl, which delivers mail to me sometimes, but he gave me permission to buy my own owl, seeing as he needs his to deliver messages to other members of the ministry and can't send him to Hogwarts and back. Poor Horatio, that's what Uncle Jerry calls his owl. He's already got a lot on his plate, going from one ministry home to another a couple times a day. If he had to go all the way to Hogwarts and back, he'd probably have to take a few weeks off out of exhaustion. But he'll just stay with Uncle Jerry and I'll get my own owl.

Uncle Jerry apparently told Hagrid that, because Hagrid told us both to take our time and pick out whatever owl we wanted. I finally found a very nice one with beautiful brown plumage with white tips. I've decided to call him Ibbett. That was the name of the owl the Greek goddess Athena always had on her shoulder. She was the goddess of wisdom and owls are said to be a symbol of wisdom, so that was what I decided to call him.

Then we went and got our wands. It took less than no time to get mine, beach wood, nine inches long, with a dragon's heartstring core. It took Harry forever to find the right wand for him, but he finally found one. What was interesting was that the brother to Harry's wand was the one that gave him the lightning scar on his forehead. Voldemort owned that wand. Harry and I exchanged startled looks at this. It's a bit ironic isn't it, that the phoenix only gave two tail feathers, and that Harry got one and Voldemort got the other. Something tells me that's going to come in very handy in the coming years, but don't ask me why I think that.

We got back to the house around 5:30. Uncle Jerry wasn't in yet, but then I didn't expect him to be. I just said goodnight to Harry and Hagrid, said it was a pleasure to meet them both, and I hoped to see them again at Hogwarts. Hagrid waited until I was safely inside the house before leaving with Harry.

Now, here I lay, about to go to bed. It's almost 10:30 and Uncle Jerry still isn't home yet. I'm used to him not being home until late, but this is late even for him. I wonder what he's doing. It may be some other project with Amos Diggory. I have to say that I miss Cedric. I looked for him all through the day, but I didn't see him anywhere. I would have liked to have gone to Diagon Alley with him, but I'll see him at Hogwarts. He and I send letters back and forth, and we do have dinner together sometimes at their house, but I just miss seeing him. But hopefully, I'll be able to see him all the time when I start school, along with Harry. Sweet dreams, little diary.

Love,

Leslie

All right, that's one more chapter down, the next one will be when she arrives at school. It's also going to start building more on the last chapter, and will start showing signs that Cedric may have a crush on her as well. The next few chapters are going to have a bunch of dialogue between the two of them. See you later!


	4. September 1st, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead two more months to the trip to Hogwarts via King's Cross, and Leslie does get to see Cedric, but she realizes just what kind of change she's about to undertake. But she has Cedric to comfort her, and she bonds closer to Harry and Ron. Happy reading!

09-01-2001

Dear Diary,

Today was my very first day at Hogwarts! I'm in my dormitory now as I write this. The other girls are complaining and saying I need to turn the light out, but they'll just have to live with it, because I don't know any spells to light just my bed and not the entire room. I'm not turning the light out until I'm done writing, unless I decide to move to the window and use the moonlight, which I can do if I need to.

I shall never forget this day as long as I live. It was so exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time, mostly because Uncle Jerry's the only person really in my life. Actually, that's not true, Cedric is my friend, but my only friend. For as long as I can remember, it's always been my uncle and I, just the two of us, and now I'm going off to school, leaving home, leaving him. I cried when I woke up this morning as the full impact of what was happening dawned upon me. Uncle Jerry heard me crying and came into my room to comfort me.

"Everything's all right Leslie," he said, holding me gently in his arms. I had my face pressed into his shoulder, so when I tried to say something, I was surprised that he managed to understand it through the sobs, but he did. He just kissed me on the forehead and said, "I'll write to you as often as I can, and should you ever need anything, don't hesitate to write to me. I'll miss you my dear, but you'll have fun at school, and you'll make lots of nice friends. Just don't forget about me. I love you Leslie."

"I love you too Uncle Jerry," I said, hugging him as tightly as I could. We sat there for a few more minutes until I had gotten myself back under control, then he let me get ready. We had to be at the train station at eleven o'clock, which was too early for my liking, every minute at home was precious to me, but that was the time and there was no changing it.

I dried my tears and with a heavy heart, I packed my trunk and let Uncle Jerry load it into his car for me. I've never really understood the point of him having to use Muggle transportation, but he does. He can't use magic to get me there because I can't do magic yet, and someone might see us. Besides, when I was going to my private girl's school, he always drove me there himself. I just climbed in the car and let him steer through the streets to King's Cross.

Actually, there was a bit of a surprise waiting for me when we got there. As we were walking up to the entrance to the station, we saw Cedric standing there with his father. It was so good to see Cedric again. Except for the fact that he's grown quite a bit, he looked the same as he did last time I saw him. I ran up to him and hugged him tightly, so glad to have someone I knew traveling with me. He hugged me back and grinned at me, which told me that he was glad to see me as well.

As we walked inside, he asked me if I was excited about my first year at Hogwarts and I said I was, very much so. However, I said this with a kind of false enthusiasm and I think he noticed.

"Why so nervous Leslie?" he asked. I just looked away and he took the hint and dropped the subject, though I knew once we were alone, he was going to bring it up again.

Having him there with me was the only comfort I had, which I needed considering the incident this morning. But something has just occurred to me: he's going into his third year. What happens when he leaves school? I'll have two years left, what will I do not seeing him every once in a while. I still have a huge crush on him and it grows every time I see him. When I dream of what my future will be like, it always has him in it.

But I'm rambling. Anyway, Uncle Jerry and Mr. Diggory got us on the train, though it was scary having to walk through that barrier to get onto Platform 9¾. Cedric and his father seemed used to it, as did Uncle Jerry, though it scared me half to death. Cedric told me to take it at a run then he asked if I wanted him to go with me. I nodded and he nodded back, not in a teasing way, but very understanding. It makes me wonder if he was this nervous when he was starting as well.

We made it onto the platform and Cedric helped me put my trunk in the luggage rack. We had gotten there fairly early, so I took a set of robes out of my trunk and went to go change; I'd seen a restroom close to the entrance. When I came back, Cedric was talking with his father and my uncle. He complimented me on my uniform, saying I looked like a professional witch already, and I just looked away. I wanted to say something back, but I was still too distraught from this morning. Cedric noticed and apparently so did my uncle. I kissed Uncle Jerry goodbye, and got on the train. Cedric hugged his father, shook my uncle's hand and prepared to get on the train after me, but as he did, Uncle Jerry did something rather strange. He caught Cedric's arm and whispered something to him. Then he urged Cedric onto the train and shut the compartment door behind him. I asked Cedric what he'd said, but he wouldn't tell me.

I hung out the window to say goodbye to Uncle Jerry before the train left. I was leaning so far out that Cedric had to grab my shoulders to keep me from falling out. He pulled me back inside the train and we both fell back against the seat. We had a moment, a definite moment, where we were just looking into each other's eyes and seeing something there that neither of us expected to see: affection. I got up very quickly and went back to the window, blushing like a tomato.

"Goodbye Uncle Jerry, see you soon!" I yelled to him, waving to him as the train started to move.

"Goodbye my dear!" he yelled back, and I could see him smiling even as the train gained speed and moved off the platform. I brought my head back inside the compartment and I sat down across from Cedric. He was looking at me in a way that I still don't really understand. It was like he was trying to understand something himself, but was having a very difficult time of it.

Finally, I got fed up with him and asked, "is everything all right?"

He paused a minute, then asked me, "what's on your mind Leslie? What's wrong?

"What makes you think something's wrong?" I asked him.

"From the way you answered me when I asked if you excited about your first year, from the expression I saw on your face when you walked into the station, from the way you're avoiding my eye now."

It was true. The last place I was looking, or for that matter wanted to look, was right at him. I said very quickly to him, "there's nothing wrong."

"I'm not convinced Leslie."

"You really know how to read people, don't you?" I asked, gazing out the window.

"Yes I do, it's something you learn fairly quickly in the wizarding world," said Cedric.

"What happens if you're right, and that there is something wrong?"

"Then you tell me what it is, then you ask me for advice, and I give it," he said. "And I know there's something wrong Leslie. Your eyes were red when you came into the station, and they still are a bit. You've been crying, and I don't like to see people cry."

Well, I didn't start crying again, but I did tell him why I was crying this morning. I told him everything that I was thinking at that moment, and he did something I didn't expect. He came over and sat down next to me, and put his arm around me.

"Everything's going to be all right," he said. "I realize that your uncle's been the only person in your life since your parents died, and I know that your past has things in it that I can't even begin to comprehend. But if you learn to accept change, you'll learn that it's not always for the bad. And you are going to make an amazing witch."

"Thank you Cedric," I said to him.

We sat there together for a little while, but then some of Cedric's friends came in and sat with us. They were all in the third year as well, so I was sort of the odd girl out. Cedric tried to involve me in the conversation, but it was hard for him, and I could see it. I could see that from the way some of them were looking at me that I had overstayed my welcome and decided to bow out gracefully. I just said I was going up front to ask the engineer a question, but really I was just trying to get away from these complete strangers and from the feelings of isolation I had. I think Cedric saw through me and as I left, he shot me a look that said, "I'm sorry." I gave him a small smile that said it was all right, but I don't think he believed me.

I just thought about how those people had all looked at me, and suddenly, I felt back as though as I was back in my girl's school, where no one would go near me, just because they thought I was strange. Now granted, none of them would have thought I was weird, because they're all witches and wizards like me. But I think they thought it a little strange and awkward having someone they didn't know in the compartment with them. They might have known who I was, I mean, my story is almost as famous as Harry Potter is because I survived that night, but just because I was lucky that my uncle showed up. I don't know if they were excited that I was there, or just didn't want to be around a lowly first year. Either way, I wanted to get out of there.

I walked up and down the cars, looking for someone I could sit with, but everywhere was full. Finally, I found one compartment that only had two people in it. I smiled as I recognized Harry as one of them. He was sitting with a boy with bright red hair.

"He must be a Weasley," I thought to myself. They all have hair like that and I could tell at once that his clothes were secondhand. The Weasley's are one of the, shall we say, less rich Pureblood families. They're very kind, all of them, but they don't have that much money. I know Mr. Weasley because he also works for the Ministry, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. He's a nice man, but he's absolutely fascinated with Muggles, how they live, how all their inventions work, etc.

I went in and sat with them for a little while. They seemed to be having loads of fun. Ron, the redhead, was telling Harry all about the wizarding world. I helped him as much as I could. We sat and ate all the sweets they'd gotten off the trolley. I had to admit I was hungry, so Harry offered me some of his treats. Ron shared only reluctantly, but he's a boy, what do you expect? They never share their food. I mean, I've seen boys eat until any normal human being would explode. But Harry was very polite to me and shared his Chocolate Frogs with me. I quickly became much more comfortable with him and Ron than I did with Cedric and his friends.

After a little while, a boy and a girl came in looking for a toad. The boy's name was Neville Longbottom. He looks like he's going to be a handful. Don't ask me how or why I think that, I just do. He was very worried about his pet. Personally, I wouldn't get a toad if my life depended on it. I like my owl. Ibbett is a very sweet creature and he's going to be a very busy owl, once Uncle Jerry and I start corresponding.

The girl also looked like a handful, and a showoff. Her name was Hermione Granger. When Ron was trying to work a spell his brother showed him, Hermione was all, "let's see it then," and "are you sure that's a real spell? I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me." She's going to be the teacher's pet and she's going to beat us in every test, you mark my words.

Later on, a boy named Draco Malfoy came in, asking for Harry. It was that nasty boy we met in the robe shop in Diagon Alley. I remembered where I'd seen him before. I'd seen him at the Ministry once, when Uncle Jerry brought me into work with him. His father, Lucius, was there and he'd brought his son along. They're one of the wealthiest Pureblood families in England. I think my family is the only one wealthier than his. The Malfoy's use their wealth to secure their social status in the wizarding world. He knows better than to mock me, because not only do I have more money than he does (or I will when I turn 21), but my uncle is higher up in society and in the Ministry than his father is. All I have to do is write to my uncle, and he'll talk to Lucius Malfoy and everything will be sorted out like that. But Draco said some things to Harry and Ron that I didn't like and they ended up leaving, after Ron's rat bit one of Malfoy's friends.

By the time we arrived at Hogwarts, it was already dark. I tried to find Cedric to maybe walk with him up to the school, but Hagrid arrived and said for the first years to come and follow him. I went with the rest of the first years to a group of boats. As we rounded the bend, we got our first look at Hogwarts. I have never witnessed such a bewitching sight, pardon the pun. It was a castle, seven stories high, with many turrets and towers. Its windows glistened and gleamed in the evening moonlight and the light coming from the windows on the bottom floor looked warm and inviting. It just looked so safe. But then Hagrid did say that Hogwarts was one of the safest places in the world.

We all got into boats that took us across the lake and onto the castle grounds. The water looked as black as ink and if you had just the sky and the water to look at, you wouldn't be able to tell where one ended and the other began. When the boats landed, we all walked up to the castle. It was a long hike up the slippery slope to the place and I lost my footing more than once. Harry was right behind me and he caught my arm several times.

When we got to the door, Hagrid knocked on it and a woman in a long green robe and witch's hat opened it. She identified herself as Professor McGonagall, the assistant headmistress. She explained the way things worked at Hogwarts, that we would be sorted into houses and that triumphs will earn us points and rule breaking loses points. She then led us into the Great Hall, where all the meals and banquets are held. There are four long tables going up and down the hall, one for each house and there is one table for the teachers and faculty at the head of the hall. The rest of the school was already assembled there. I looked at all the different people watching us, and I could feel a sense of unease growing inside me. What did they think of us? What did they expect from us?

I saw Cedric at the Hufflepuff table. He was looking directly at me. When he caught my eye, he smiled encouragingly at me and I smiled back at him. There was an empty space next to him. I could tell he was saving it for me, should I be sorted into Hufflepuff along with him. Professor McGonagall stopped in front of the teacher's table and placed a tattered old hat in front of us. It then burst into song. I've seen some amazing things in my life, but I've never seen anything like that. As the hat was singing, I kept wondering what house I would be in. Uncle Jerry and my father were both in Hufflepuff and my mother was in Ravenclaw. Chances are I would be in one of those, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

When the hat finished, Professor McGonagall began to call us up in alphabetical order to try on the hat and it would call out what house we would go into. I was the second person to be called up. When my name was called, I could hear a few people whispering about me. My story is known to the wizarding world, so that the only people who won't know it are the Muggleborns. I'm not as famous as Harry, but I am famous. I could hear some people saying, "that's Leslie Angkatell? In ten years, she'll be the richest witch in all of England!" Well technically, in nine years and three months, I'll be the richest witch in all of England. I sat down on the stool and Professor McGonagall dropped the hat on my head. It drooped down over my eyes, so I couldn't see what was happening around me.

Suddenly, I heard a voice inside my head say, "hmm, a promising young lady. You'll make a fine witch someday, it's all here in your head. I remember your parents, one in Ravenclaw and one in Hufflepuff, but I'm not sure either house is right for you. You have the qualities that both those founders of Hogwarts looked for, truth, wisdom, resourcefulness. But there is something more here. You are strong, very strong and independent, and behind all that, is a mountain of courage and the will to do whatever it takes to protect those you love. And the best house for people like that is…" He shouted the name of the house for everyone to hear, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I could hear immense cheering from the Gryffindor table even before Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off my head. I walked over to join my new classmates, glad I was in Gryffindor, but sad that I wouldn't be in the same house as Cedric. As I sat down at the Gryffindor table, I caught Cedric's eye at the next table and I could see a sad look in them. He smiled at me affectionately, so as to offer me congratulations, but I could tell he was disappointed that I wasn't going to be in the same house with him. We won't be able to see each other as often, but I know somehow, we'll still manage to see each other.

The rest of the sorting passed on, with that awful boy Malfoy being sorted into Slytherin, which was expected, and Harry, Ron and Hermione all being sorted into Gryffindor. Hermione and I sat next to each other and she's actually a very nice girl. I know she seems like a know it all, but she's very nice. We sat and chatted and ate dinner together. When the sorting was over, the food arose out of nowhere and appeared on the glittering golden plates and dishes. Then after the banquet, the prefects led the way to the common rooms and dormitories. The Gryffindor common room is behind a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. We all went straight up to bed and here I am, writing this.

It feels amazing to be here, just to be in this castle, sitting in this room in Gryffindor tower. There are three other girls in here with me and they seem like a fairly nice bunch. But if I have this light on any longer, they'll throttle me, so I'd better get some sleep. Good night little diary. Wish me luck in my lessons tomorrow!

Love,

Leslie

All right, so Leslie's at Hogwarts, and she's about to go through her first week, and she isn't going to like it. In the next chapter, we'll have more cute scenes between Leslie and Cedric, and we'll have her finally accepting her place at school. Stay tuned!


	5. September 7th, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead a week to the end of the first week of classes at Hogwarts and we're getting Leslie's take on it. We're going to have some more insight into her personality in a dialogue with Cedric, and she's going to realize that she does have friends, even though she's not very good at making them. Happy reading!

09-07-2001

Dear Diary,

I've just finished my first week at Hogwarts, and boy, am I glad it is done and the weekend has come. I'm already exhausted from the amount of homework they give us. Uncle Jerry did warn me not to put any of my homework off, that it would pile up after a little while, but I didn't think it would pile up this quickly. Luckily, I've never really gotten into the habit of putting things off, so I'm all right, but things still got busy very rapidly.

Just attending the classes themselves added to my exhaustion as well. Transfiguration is the hardest thing I've ever attempted, all those complicated spells and notes. I've still got dirt under my nails from the first Herbology lesson, and I can't sleep because I have to stay up for Astronomy lessons. I hate staying up late, mostly because I want to be alert and rested for the coming day, but going to the Astronomy Tower at midnight makes it very difficult to do that.

Charms' is by far the most fun class, spells and wrist movements, and Professor Flitwick is a very kind man, even if he is short. We haven't really attempted any spells yet, he's just showed us some basic wrist movements, but he was very sweet to us. I think he's one of the few professors here that understands that we're all far away from home and is trying to make us feel welcome.

Potions' was a nightmare, which is surprising for me to say because that's the class I was looking forward to the most. But Professor Snape is by far the most unpleasant man I have ever met. He really only does favor the students in his own house, Slytherin House, and he's apparently very malicious to Gryffindor's. He was praising Malfoy for his good work in class the other day, took a point from Harry for speaking back to him and another when Neville messed up a potion. It wasn't Harry's fault that Neville added the wrong ingredient, but Snape blamed him anyway, quite unfairly in my opinion. He's awful, and for some reason, he seems particularly vindictive towards Harry. I'd like to know why, and I know Harry thinks the same. Ron said we were just imagining things, but I know Harry doesn't believe that, and neither do I.

By the time dinner rolls around, I'm usually having to force myself to keep my eyes open, then force myself just to lift the food to my mouth. It's a lot of exercise, walking around this enormous castle, and the teachers work us so hard, that all us first years are exhausted. I wish I could just go to bed directly after dinner, but I can't, not with all the work I have to do. Every night, the professors give us a mountain of homework and I've stayed up late every night doing it.

I thought only university students at Oxford or Cambridge were supposed to be sleep-deprived. And those are students in their late-teens and early twenties, I'm only eleven and I'm sleep deprived. But thankfully, the weekend is sleep catch-up weekend.

When I got up two mornings ago, I said, "thank God it's Friday," and went to classes with more optimism than usual, mostly because I had a night of just me and my bed planned. I'm serious, I did go to bed directly after dinner, and I missed breakfast this morning because I slept in. Hermione brought me some sausage, biscuits and marmalade up from the Great Hall, which was enough to get me through the morning; I've never bothered with a large breakfast. Then she immediately went to the library to study and I decided I wanted to go outside for a little walk. I think Harry and Ron went to visit Hagrid.

I think that's a habit we're all going to fall into the habit of very quickly around here, going off on our own separate ways. Harry and Ron do whatever they want, Hermione going to the library and me going for a walk by myself. It doesn't matter. At my girl's school in London, I would often leave the dining hall before lunch was over, so that I would have time to walk it off and think for a few minutes before my next class.

Strange thing before I forget, as I was getting ready this morning, I noticed a copy of the Daily Prophet on the dresser of one of my roommates, Lavender Brown. The headline was for a break in at Gringott's. I've never heard of anyone breaking in Gringott's before. I mean, it's virtually impossible.

Now that I think about it, I remember Ron telling Harry and I about it on the train coming here, but I haven't heard anything about it since. I picked up the paper and read the article and I was shocked to see that it happened on the day Harry, Hagrid and I were there. They wouldn't tell what vault the robber had attempted to infiltrate, all it said was that particular vault had been emptied earlier that very same day. Hagrid took that little package out of the vault, that must be what they were after. I'll have to talk with Harry about this, I'm sure he'll want to know. He's as curious about that little parcel as I am. And if that's what the thief was after, then whatever was inside that package has to be very special and very powerful. Why do I get the feeling that I don't want to know what was in it?

Anyway, back to this morning, I decided I wanted to go for a walk, so I headed outside the castle and down by the lake. I took in a deep breath of fresh air, and sighed as I realized that I felt free out here, not restrained by the ludicrous amount of homework that I had waiting for me later that afternoon.

I was also very glad to find that there wasn't much of anyone outside. It was still very early morning, so everyone else was either still in the Great Hall or in their common rooms or something. There were a few people down by the lake, but I wanted to be alone, so I took the long way around the lake and sat down in the grass, well away from all the people there. I just laid my head back and closed my eyes, without a care in the world.

I really enjoyed lying in the grass like that, listening to the sounds of nature, the sounds of insects chirping in the grass, the birds flying in the trees, and the gentle sound of the lake water lapping up on the shore. Nearby I heard the sounds of the small group of people moving back up to the castle, and I gave a small smile. I was glad that they hadn't seen me, I really didn't want someone to find me here.

At least that's what I thought. I heard footsteps come my way a few minutes later, and stop right next to me, but I didn't open my eyes to see who it was. I just kept my eyes shut and pretended to be asleep, hoping they would go away. But they didn't, and even though I didn't want company, I was glad to hear the voice that spoke to me.

"That whole thing of acting like you're asleep isn't going to fool me Leslie," it said. I opened my eyes to see Cedric standing above me.

"Cedric, hello," I said, sitting up and smiling at him. "Would you like to sit down?"

"I would," he said, taking a seat next to me. There was a moment of silence, and then he said, "why didn't you answer me when I called you?"

"What do you mean when you called me?"

"I was sitting with that group of people by the lake. I saw you come down out of the castle, but I don't think the others did. I gestured at you to come over and join us, and I called out to you, but I guess you didn't see or hear me."

"Sorry about that," I said. "Besides, even if I had heard you, I don't think I would have come over to join you. Nothing personal Cedric, but you remember the train ride here. I felt so out of place sitting with you and your friends. They didn't even notice I was there, they ignored me as best they could. That's why I left the compartment. I think you're the only person who even noticed that I left."

"Yes, I'm sorry for that," he said. "I have to admit I was pretty angry with them. I actually tried to follow you and apologize, but by the time I got away from them, I couldn't find you."

"Don't worry, I found someone to sit with," I said. "I've met Harry Potter and you haven't."

"What's he like?"

I told him about meeting Harry and sitting with him and Ron on the Hogwarts Express, and how kind he is and how curious about the wizarding world. I left out the package from Gringott's though, I promised Hagrid I wouldn't say anything about it.

"I have to admit I want to meet the famous Harry Potter," said Cedric. "But he isn't the first famous person I've met."

"Please don't," and I actually snapped at him. He looked a little surprised at that.

"What's the matter Leslie?"

"I just don't like the fact that I am famous, and it's only for the fact that when I turn 21, I'll be the richest woman in England by wizarding standards. I'll even be richer than the queen. When people think of me, they don't think of the heinous things I went through when I was a baby, all they think of is my inheritance sitting in Gringott's. And I don't like being reminded of said inheritance, because to get it, I lost my parents and my sister. You're lucky Cedric, you have a family. I never knew my parents, the only knowledge I have of them is what my uncle's told me. I don't like thinking about the whole thing at all, so please just don't bring it up."

He nodded and said, "all right, I understand. I'm sorry."

"Do you really understand?" I asked him, and he nodded. I could tell he meant it.

An awkward moment of silence passed between us before I asked him, "how's your week been?" I asked it a little stiffly, mostly because I was still on edge from the turn our conversation had taken.

"Fine," he told me. "Classes are challenging as usual, but nothing I can't handle."

"I feel the same way, even though it's going to take me awhile to get used to all this."

"To get used to all of what?"

"The amount of homework they give us, and walking from class to class."

He must have seen me rub my eyes as I said that, because he asked me, "are you getting enough sleep?"

I was a little surprised that he asked. I didn't think it was that obvious that I hadn't been sleeping well. I borrowed a little bit of Lavendar's makeup to try and hide it, but obviously it didn't work. But ridiculously large amounts of magical homework will keep you up at night, won't it? I told him, "I have been sleeping, just not getting much of it. With all the homework they've been giving us, I've found it hard to get to bed at a decent hour."

"You'll get used to it," he said. "Though it takes a little while, you will get used to it."

"I'll take your word for it."

Another moment of silence, and then I said, "I'm sorry I was put in Gryffindor."

"Why?" he asked, a little surprised. "Gryffindor has the best reputation of the four Hogwarts houses, its commanded respect from the entire wizarding world for over a millennium. You should feel honored to be there."

"I am honored, but that's not what I meant," I told him. "You're the only friend I have here Cedric. I was hoping I'd be in Hufflepuff, so that I could see you more often." I could feel myself blushing as I said that, but I don't think he cared.

"I know it takes awhile, but you'll make lots of friends," he said. "When I first got here, I didn't know anyone, and it took me a long time to make some friends. I just concentrated on my studies, got on the good sides of some of the teachers and pretty soon, some people in Hufflepuff were praising me for how good I was doing in class. Now, I'm one of the most popular boys in the house.

"Like I'm ever going to be popular," I muttered to myself. "Not with my social skills or my looks, which aren't much to speak about anyway."

I think I really surprised Cedric at that, but he continued as though it didn't bother him. "Believe it or not Leslie, you've already started down the road of friendship, as I like to call it."

I looked at him like he was crazy and he continued, "I'm serious. For a start, you have me. Then that girl, with the bushy brown hair, that Hermione Granger, I think she's becoming your friend already. I've heard about her, she's the teacher's favorite. And I've seen you speaking with her and it looks like you're getting along all right."

I looked at him a little shocked and he told me, "I've taken the liberty of keeping an eye on you. I just want to make sure you're settling in all right."

"You didn't have to do that," I told him.

"I wanted to," he said to me and he winked at me. I think Cedric really does care for me, and I know my feelings for him are growing by the day. I know it's silly of me to say, but I think he's the one. He's quite a catch at any rate, but being a third year and intelligent and good looking, he must have girls throwing themselves at him. There's no way he could care for me the way I do for him.

All the same, as he was walking me back up to the castle, I could have sworn I saw something in his eyes that said the contrary. But perhaps I was just imagining things.

That night, after getting most of my homework done and taking a nap, I found Harry and Ron in the common room. They were talking about the break in at Gringott's, and I immediately sat down and began discussing it with them. Harry had seen a copy of the Daily Prophet in Hagrid's hut and read the story as well.

He had the same theory I did, that the package Hagrid withdrew from the vault was what the thief or thieves might have been after. He also said he suspected that the robbery might have been happening while we were there, which was unnerving to say the least. If Uncle Jerry found out I was in Gringott's during a robbery, I wouldn't be allowed out of the apartment again for fear that I'd get into more danger.

There's one more thing. When Harry brought up the subject of the robbery, Hagrid for some reason, abruptly changed the subject, and began asking Ron about his brother, Charlie.

"That's odd," I said, when Harry finished. "Why should Hagrid be so evasive?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "But I intend to find out. Are you both with me?"

Ron nodded, but I asked, "Me? Are you sure?"

"Yeah," said Harry, looking surprised that I'd had to ask. "Why wouldn't I be sure? You're my friend Leslie, and friends stick together." I couldn't help but smile at him when he said that, and I nodded as well.

I crawled into bed that night thinking of what he'd said and what Cedric had said, and I realized with a jolt that Cedric was right. I am making friends at Hogwarts. I have Harry, Ron, Hermione and I have Cedric. I'm doing just fine.

Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** So what did you think of this chapter? Leslie's a complicated person, and I haven't really expanded on why she's so complicated yet. I mean, of course she lost her parents and sister at a young age, her uncle works hard to support her, but he's so busy working that he doesn't have time to spend with her, and she doesn't make friends easily. So you can see why she won't open up to people quite as easily as others would, and why she had to ask if Harry was sure he wanted to include her in the Gringott's inquiry. That's what Cedric is there for though, for her to talk to and confide in at all times. I'll post back the next chapter soon, it's going to be about Fluffy and the midnight duel. Stay tuned!


	6. September 13th, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead about another week to the midnight duel, and Leslie's perspective of that. We're getting into the heart of the story behind the first book, and she realizes that something's going to happen. Happy reading!

09-13-2001

Dear Diary,

What a night it's been! My uncle did warn me that there would never be a dull day at Hogwarts, but I didn't think he meant that things would get as riled up as they did tonight. But if he knew what I have just been through, he'd withdraw me from the school before I could have time to protest.

It's after midnight now, but I can't sleep, and I had to write this down before I forgot all the details. That also explains the reason the date is the way it is, because it was the twelfth about an hour ago. I'm back downstairs in the common room, writing by the fire side, so as not to disturb my roommates. I would have waited until this evening to tell you, but it's so fascinating that I just couldn't wait. Harry and I think we've found where Hagrid put that little package from Vault 713.

It started out innocently enough. This morning, well I should say yesterday morning now, Neville got a Remembrall from his grandmother. That seems to suit him very well, he goes misplacing things all the time. I told you he was going to be a handful, but his heart is in the right place.

However, during flying lessons today, he broke his wrist and his little treasure landed on the ground. Unfortunately, Malfoy picked that moment to cause trouble and he broke the rules by flying away with it. First rule of thumb at Hogwarts, always be ready when a Slytherin causes trouble, because you know somehow you're going to get roped into it. I wish they'd give us some warning about when they're going to cause trouble though.

Madam Hooch had told us all to stay on the ground while she took Neville up to the hospital wing. Then of course, that awful Malfoy had to disobey her and fly off with the Remembrall. Harry, being the boy he is, wouldn't stand for it, and flew after him. Hermione tried to talk him out of it, but he just ignored her and flew up there. I just shook my head and gave a small smile, knowing better than to get in his way. I've only known Harry for a couple weeks, but I've already known him long enough to know that when he sets his mind to something, he follows it through no matter what. I don't think Hermione understands that yet though.

Harry jumped on his broom, flew right after Malfoy, and tried to get the Remembrall back. That awful boy just threw it towards the ground and Harry went into the most magnificent dive I've ever seen. It took everything I had not to scream. If I had, he would have lost his concentration and landed hard on the ground, and that would have killed him. I just kept my hands clamped over my mouth, and tried my hardest not to shut my eyes.

But I don't think anything could have ruined Harry's concentration at that moment. I don't know how to describe it. He looked so agile, so skilled on his broomstick, as though that was where he belonged. But then, Uncle Jerry did tell me about how good a flyer James Potter was, so maybe flying is in Harry's blood. He flew straight downward, grabbed the Remembrall, and pulled right out of that dive, as though it were easier than reading a book. I've never seen anything like it.

"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" I asked him, as he came back over to us.

"I don't know," he answered me. "Somehow or other, I just knew what to do."

"That was amazing," I said to him, and Ron nodded beside him. Hermione just looked annoyed that he hadn't listened to her, and Malfoy was obviously disappointed that Harry hadn't broken his neck.

But then Professor McGonagall showed up and we all thought Harry was done for. We all tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't listen and insisted that Harry come with her. I watched them go and I thought to myself, "Harry's in for it now. Dear Lord, please let him stay in school. Don't let them expel him just because he was doing something good for someone else." Don't you hate how cruel this world can be sometimes?

But when Harry met us at dinner, he told Ron and I that he had gotten a place on the Gryffindor House Quidditch team. I breathed a deep sigh of relief as I realized he wasn't going to leave the school, and couldn't help but smile encouragingly as I thought of how he'd look on the Quidditch pitch. If that little performance today was anything to go by, this school is in for several very exciting matches.

I've always loved watching Quidditch. It's a sport played on broomsticks, but I won't explain the details now; it would take too long. But there are four balls, and to win, one player, the Seeker, has to catch the smallest ball, the golden Snitch.

But the bad guys always seem to know when to chime in, don't they? During dinner, Malfoy came over to our table to taunt us. He even had the audacity to say, "having a last meal before catching the train home, Potter," or words to that effect. When he found out that Harry hadn't been expelled, he was furious.

"You really shouldn't go picking fights with everyone you meet Malfoy," I said to him. "It's going to get you into trouble someday, and when that day comes, you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

I know he didn't take a word I said seriously, but he knew better than to comment. That didn't stop him from trying to make Harry feel bad. He even challenged Harry to a midnight duel, and even though I could tell Harry didn't have a clue what he was talking about, he sounded like he did. It didn't help that Ron was there backing him up, volunteering to be his second. I kept muttering to myself, "shut up Ron, shut up Ron," but he didn't pay any attention. I didn't expect him to.

I had a bad feeling about this right from the start. Malfoy has already had more experience with magic than Harry, being from a Pureblood family, as have Ron and I. Though Ron knows little more magic than Harry does, he and I are still used to seeing it wherever he goes in the wizarding world. I told Harry I'd go with him just to make sure they didn't get into any trouble, but I should have stayed in bed and gotten a good night's sleep.

We snuck out of the common room at about 11:30, and started down for the trophy room. Hermione followed us out of the portrait hole, and began reprimanding us sharply. She'd overheard everything at dinner, and had tried to coax us out of going then, but it hadn't worked. I swear, she's a nice girl, but she's nosy, and it wasn't any of her concern what we chose to do at that hour. Although she did say that if we got caught, we'd be in a heap of trouble and she is right. If I got expelled this early on in my Hogwarts career, my uncle would pitch a hissy fit. And of course, she had to bring that up.

"How could you do this Leslie?" she asked me. "How could you betray your school? Your house? Your uncle?"

"I'm not betraying anybody Hermione, I'm just going out for a walk," I said, but I knew she wasn't buying that story. She gave us all a disapproving sigh and started back for the common room, but the Fat Lady had left her portrait for a nighttime visit. I love the fact that the inhabitants of portraits can walk and talk, but when you're trying to get somewhere, it can be a real nuisance sometimes. So Hermione ended up coming with us, very much against her will.

It gets worse. Neville was sitting at the end of the corridor, not being able to get into the common room, because he'd forgotten the new password. He's even more of a handful than I'd realized. He had no choice but to come with us, if he'd stayed there, Filch would have found him sooner or later.

So we made our way down to the trophy room and waited for Malfoy, but he didn't make an appearance. There was an air of mystery, of danger, and indeed of fear in that room, and I remember holding my breath for several seconds as I waited for some sign of movement. The movement we saw was definitely not welcome.

Filch and Mrs. Norris appeared at the other end of the room, and we had to sneak as quietly as we could out the other end. Unfortunately, Neville knocked over a suit of armor and we had to run for it. Not only is he forgetful, he's clumsy, and at that moment, I couldn't help but silently curse him.

We ended up in the Charms corridor and Peeves gave us away, like he always does. We ran into a corridor at the other end of the one we were in, and Hermione unlocked it for us. We waited until Filch left, but we didn't leave right away.

It was at that moment we realized that we were in the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Harry and Ron wanted to explore it and see why it was forbidden, but Hermione, Neville and I wanted to get out of there as quickly as we could. It was dark all throughout the hall, not even candles were lighting it, and there were cobwebs all over the place. It didn't look as though anyone had set foot in that part of the castle for years, which is surprising, because from the way Dumbledore made the announcement at the Sorting Ceremony, this is the first year that it's been out of bounds.

But it was then that we saw exactly why the corridor was out of bounds. There was a large three-headed, I kid you not, three-headed dog standing in front of us. Frankly, I was surprised that it didn't gobble us to bits on the spot, but it looked as though it was preparing to.

"Run!" Harry shouted, and we all ran as quickly as we could back down the corridor. I began to scream as I heard the dog behind us, and Harry had to clamp a hand over my mouth while we ran, so that Filch wouldn't hear us. Hermione locked the door back, and we didn't stop running until we were back in the Gryffindor common room. Neville immediately went upstairs to bed, and Hermione reprimanded us again for our foolishness.

I tried my hardest not to say, "shut up Hermione, you've made your point."

Honestly, the way she went on, you'd think we'd just made the top 10 criminal's list. She kept saying, "we could have been killed. We could have been expelled." The only thing I was worried about was whether or not she'd tell my uncle what happened, which I really hoped she wouldn't.

Then she said something that changed everything.

Ron said, "What do they think they're doing? Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school!"

Hermione retorted with, "You don't use your eyes, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?" Ron made some comment about not looking at its feet, and she replied with, "it was standing on a trap door, which means it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something."

She went upstairs at that moment and I went up with her. As I turned into the stairs, Harry and I exchanged a glance and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. That package Hagrid removed from Vault 713 was hidden under that trapdoor. Now, the next question is how are we going to find out what was in it?

Now as I sit here by the fire, writing these last few words, all I can think about is how we've shaken the edge of a web tonight, and somewhere, sometime soon, the spider at the art of it will come for us. We shouldn't have gone out tonight, but we did and now, something's going to happen, and I don't know if it will be for better or worse. I'm scared, I'm scared of what we've done, of what we saw, of what's going to happen to us, of everything. Perhaps I'm not as tough as my uncle's raised me to be.

I need someone to talk to, I need advice, but who can I go to? I certainly can't go to any of the teachers, and I won't go to Uncle Jerry. That only leaves Cedric I suppose. But I'm not sure he'd approve of the fact that I was up after hours, and for that matter, inside the forbidden corridor. No, I'm going to have to keep this secret for now. I'll inform you when something else happens. Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** Okay, so we have the duel over, and we have how Leslie thinks they've shaken the edge of a web. I couldn't resist the spider analogy; I thought it fit in so well with the rest of the story. In the next chapter, we have another scene between Leslie and Cedric, in which he convinces her to tell him what happened. Though she swore to herself that she'd keep the whole event a secret, she can't keep anything secret from Cedric. Stay tuned!


	7. September 19th, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead about another week, Leslie can't seem to get her mind off the encounter with the three-headed dog. She starts having dreams about it, and begins feeling that she has to tell someone about it, but she can't so it's eating away at her. But there's one person she can say anything to, no matter what it is, and he (hint, hint!) is going to get her recount the entire story. Happy reading!

09-19-2001

Dear Diary,

There's really no such thing as a boring day here. Every new sunrise seems to bring about a new adventure. Harry and Ron only seem to have adventures on their minds these days. Honestly, they really are the limit. All they can think about is sneaking out at night to explore the castle, and I agree with Hermione here, get themselves into trouble. We had a very close call the night of the duel. But that apparently just gave them an adrenaline rush that they liked very much, and wish to experience again. As for me, I hope I never leave Gryffindor Tower at night again, though I know better than to get my hopes up.

It's been almost a week since we discovered the three headed dog and I just can't seem to get it out of my mind. Two nights ago, I even had a nightmare about it. I have nightmares often. As you know, I revisit the night my parents died in my dreams, so I'm used to it. But this dream was almost as awful as the one I've had since childhood, though my old dream is still the worse one.

I was standing in the forbidden corridor and the three headed dog was standing in front of me. I tried to turn away towards the door, but my feet were planted to the ground. But strangely enough, the dog didn't attack me. It just stood there, looking at me, almost hungrily, as though he wanted nothing more than to rip me apart, but he couldn't.

"Help!" I screamed. "Somebody please help!"

Then I heard laughing behind me, and there was Filch, the caretaker, his cat Mrs. Norris at his feet. She was meowing nastily, and he was grinning equally as nasty. I cried for him to help me, but he wouldn't. He just stood there laughing.

"That's what you get when you don't follow the rules," he said to me. "Tell a student not to do something and they'll do it as quickly as they can."

"Mr. Filch, please get me out of here!" I yelled, but I knew he wouldn't.

Then I heard someone else calling out my name, and I turned around to see Cedric running towards me. He was scared, it was obvious.

"Leslie!" he yelled to me. "Leslie run!" But I couldn't run and he knew it. He shouted out to me, "Take my hand! I'll get you out of here, I promise. Grab my hand!"

He extended his hand towards mine, and I tried to reach out to him. I stretched my arm out as far as I could, but I just couldn't reach him. With my feet pinned to the ground, there was no way I had any shot of getting to him. He kept running towards me, and our fingertips had almost touched when the three-headed dog got over its surprise and lunged at me.

That was when I woke up. I woke panting and sweating, and it took me several minutes to get my breath. I didn't scream though, thank the Lord. I stopped waking up screaming years ago, after I started having my childhood dream. Besides, if I had screamed, I would've woken up the whole house, but I just gasped. I think I woke Hermione, but she didn't say anything, and I was glad she didn't. She's figured out by now that when I don't want to talk about something, it's better to just not ask at all. I lay back down, but I didn't really get back to sleep that night.

It's been really hard to concentrate in classes the last couple days, just because of the fact that the headmaster, who's supposed to be the greatest sorcerer in the world, is keeping a beast like that locked up in his school. I can't understand why Dumbledore would have that…that monster locked up in here. I'm sure he's got spells on the door and the wall, so the dog can't leave the corridor, but what if it did somehow get loose? Even if it is guarding something, it's still dangerous and still shouldn't be in the same vicinity as students trying to get an education.

So as I said, it's hard to imagine this is a school and that I have work to do, when there's a monster in the next corridor. I've been getting all my assignments in and I've been keeping my marks up, but I know the teachers have noticed something is wrong. I'm usually very good at hiding what kind of condition I'm in; it's something I learnt how to do very, very quickly. But I've never encountered that monster before, so I'm a little unnerved, and the teachers have noticed. Maybe I'm not as tough as I thought I was. I even think they told Uncle Jerry. I got a letter from him yesterday, reminding me to concentrate in class and get all my work done.

What's worse is that not only does he know, but Cedric knows too. I think Uncle Jerry must have sent him an owl saying to keep an eye on me for a little while. But he's going about it in completely the wrong way. He's been following me around like a puppy, making sure I get to all my classes all right, and barely letting me out of his sight. If he wanted to watch me, he should be a little more discreet, and not make me feel as though I'm being stalked.

Sometimes I see him coming forward as if to talk to me, and I dash away before he can really catch up to me. I don't really want to talk to him right now, because if I do, I'll tell him everything, and I can't afford to let anything slip. I _won't_ put Harry and Ron in that position; they'll most certainly be expelled. I know I'm probably irritating Cedric by doing that, but I have my loyalty to my friends to consider, even if Cedric is my oldest and dearest friend.

I don't like running from Cedric, mostly because of the feelings I have for him. But if I tell him everything now, he will turn me in. I have no doubt that he will, no matter how much he cares for me. All the same, it's getting harder to run from him. He knows the castle better than I do, considering he's been here for two years already, whereas I've only been here for two weeks.

I knew I couldn't run from him forever though, and yesterday I was proved right in that. He came up behind me as I was on my way to Transfiguration, and grabbed my arm. I jumped out of my skin and dropped all my books, ink splattering all over everything. He knelt down to help me, using his wand to clean everything up for me, and when I saw that it was him, I calmed down a bit.

"Cedric," I said, trying to catch my breath. "You scared me half to death. Please don't do that."

"Stop running from me Leslie," he said.

"What?" I asked, looking down at my books, and pretending that I didn't know what he was talking about. "What are you talking about? Since when do I run from you?" It didn't fool him.

"Don't play dumb with me," he said seriously. "Look at me." I turned my eyes towards him, even though I really didn't want to. "I want you to stop running from me."

I wanted to say that I had no intention of doing that. I wanted to keep running, but I knew he wouldn't let me. He continued, "something's wrong, and you aren't telling me. I want you to be able to tell me things. So, you and I are going to have a talk on Saturday directly after breakfast, whether you like it or not."

The bell rang at that moment, and I quickly gathered my books and started away. But he grabbed my arm again, and made me stop.

"Will you please stop doing that?" I asked him.

"Just remember," he said to me. "Talk on Saturday, and you will tell me everything." That look he gave me, it was so…I don't know how to describe it. It was so imperious, yet at the same time, so soothing, so comforting, like he wanted me to be able to trust him with any and all of my secrets. But of course at that moment I didn't want to tell him anything.

Today was Saturday. I went down to breakfast with Hermione, and began thinking of ways to avoid him. I glanced over at the Hufflepuff table every so often, but I didn't see him there even once.

"This is good, right?" I asked myself. "Maybe he's changed his mind, has realized that I have the right to say whatever I want to say and knows that I don't necessarily have to tell him anything I don't want to. Maybe he's just decided not to come at all."

But I shouldn't have held my breath. After we had finished breakfast, I found Cedric outside the Great Hall waiting for me. He must have come in earlier, and eaten before I got in. He smiled politely at the two of us, and said to Hermione, "I'd like to speak to Leslie alone if you don't mind."

Hermione nodded and headed off for the library, her little safe haven, leaving me all alone with Cedric.

"Hermione, wait a minute!" I called, trying to run after her, but Cedric wouldn't let me. He grabbed my arm again and began to drag me up the stairs. Every time I tried to wrench my arm away from him, he only tightened his grasp on it.

"Cedric, where are we going?" I asked him, trying to fight my arm out of his grip all the while. "Please let go. I am capable of walking on my own two feet."

"If I let go, you'd just run off again," said Cedric, a little testily. Finally, we arrived at an old, abandoned classroom. The whole place was covered in dust and cobwebs, but in a way, it was almost peaceful. It was as though while we were in there, we could say anything we wanted, and it would stay between the two of us. We went inside, and he shut the door behind us. Then with his wand, he pulled up a chair and told me to sit. The tone of his voice made it sound more like a command than a suggestion, so I did. He sat down beside me and said, "all right Leslie, what's going on?"

"What do you mean 'what's going on'?" I asked him. "There's nothing going on."

"Don't lie to me," he said sternly. "You're hiding something and I want to know what it is."

"I can't tell you."

Those four words were the hardest words I've ever had to say but they were necessary. It pained me to say that, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was hurt by hearing it. In an effort to explain myself, I quickly said, "You were right about what you said Cedric, that I am making new friends. And if I were to tell you what's happened, that would put my friends in such a position to get them expelled. I won't betray them, even to someone I trust more than anyone else."

"You trust me?" asked Cedric.

"I do. I've always trusted you. Don't you know that?"

"Then you should trust me enough to know that I won't rat you out for anything," and he gave me the sweetest look as he said that. I wanted to believe that so badly, but the cynical side of me wanted to get the heck out of there and not have to deal with this confrontation.

"This conversation is over," I said, trying hard not to look at him, but before I could get up, he had cupped my face in his hands and lifted it so that I was looking directly into his eyes. He said, "in no way is this conversation over. If there's something you prefer stays between us, then I swear on the sun and moon, I won't breathe a word of it to anyone unless you want me to."

I knew he meant it, and I couldn't keep silent any longer. I burst out and told him everything, about the incident with the Remembrall, which he'd heard about, Malfoy's challenge, sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower and into the trophy room, running away from Filch and entering the forbidden corridor on the third floor, seeing the three-headed dog and about my nightmare. I left out the part about the package from Gringotts, I wasn't sure if I was ready to tell him about that just yet. He let me talk him into silence, and it was a minute before he spoke.

"You found your way into the forbidden corridor?" I couldn't tell whether his voice was disappointed or angry or worried, probably a mixture of all three.

"Unintentionally of course," I reminded him.

"What drove you in there?" he asked.

"I told you, we just wanted to get away from Filch. We didn't know exactly where we were until it was too late. We had no idea what we were getting into, I swear."

"I believe you," said Cedric. "I don't like you sneaking around the corridors at night though. Hogwarts is the best magical school in our world, but it's also very dangerous at night. Promise me you won't leave your dormitory at night again."

"I can't do that Cedric." I don't know what exactly made me say that. I wanted to swear to him that I wouldn't break any more rules, but I couldn't. I don't know why, but I just couldn't tell him.

He sighed and said, "if Harry and Ron go on any more night time wanderings, you'll probably go with them, won't you?"

"I might very well," I said. "I don't want to, but Harry is my friend, and I told him I'd help him figure out something that's puzzling him, so if that means sneaking out of the dormitory at night, then that's what I'm going to do."

I realized then that I had said too much. I had come very close to telling Cedric about the package from Gringott's, which I really should not have done. I knew he was bound to ask me about it, and sure enough, he said, "what's puzzling him?"

"That's a secret I'm afraid," I said. "I'm the only one he's told about it."

"You're the only one he's trusted enough to confide his secret to?" asked Cedric, and for a minute, I could have sworn I could see something else in his eye, something that looked remarkably enough like jealousy. He wasn't surprised at the fact that someone had confided in me, he knows I can keep a secret. But when I looked into his eyes, I could see clearly that what surprised him was that the first person Harry had told it to wasn't his best friend, Ron, but me.

Cedric spaced out for a minute, so I waved my hand in front of his face, and said, "is anybody in there?"

He shook his head and said, "sorry about that. Listen, if you sneak out at night again, then at least promise me you'll be careful."

"Of course I will. You needn't worry about me Cedric, I'll be fine."

"I'll always worry about you," he told me, and he took my hands as he said this.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked him. "You follow me all over the school as though you're my own personal bodyguard, you ask me what I've been doing, you look as though you'd rather be forced to drink poison rather than hear that something has happened to me."

"I _would_ rather drink poison than hear something has happened to you. I'm not ever going to let anything hurt you, not while you're at Hogwarts."

"You're so sweet Cedric," I said, and I reached up and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around me in turn, and I think my heart skipped a beat as he did. Then I got up and said as I left, "thank you, but as I said, I'll be fine." I winked at him, and then headed back to Gryffindor Tower for my midmorning nap. Like I said, I haven't been sleeping well ever since the other night.

What do you think? That look on his face was a bit strange, as though he didn't like the fact that Harry confided in me rather than anyone else. Perhaps he does care for me the way I do him. Because I think I am falling for him. I'll write back soon with an update on our relationship.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** Okay, so we have a new step in Leslie and Cedric's relationship, and Cedric now knows about the three-headed dog. I will go ahead and tell you that's he not going to go after the Sorcerer's Stone with the others when we get to that part, but he's still going to be part of the story. Stay tuned!


	8. October 31st, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead about six more weeks to Halloween, and the encounter with the mountain troll. I've added in another little side scene between Hermione and Leslie, a little more jealousy from Cedric and Leslie's account of how Harry, Ron, Hermione and herself all became friends. Happy reading!

10-31-2001

Dear Diary,

Happy Halloween! What a liar I'm becoming, and I hate lying. It hasn't been much of a happy Halloween at all. On the contrary, it's the most dangerous one I've ever had to experience, which is saying something because my uncle doesn't let me near anything that seems remotely dangerous. But then, while fighting a mountain troll does count as perilous, it was also very exciting in its own way. I just hope that events like this don't become regular occurrences.

This whole thing also had a very good outcome in that Hermione helped us and we are now a foursome, her, Ron, Harry and I. Ron and Hermione have been bickering at each other ever since the start of term, particularly after the incident with the three-headed dog. When Harry got his new broomstick today, because he joined the Quidditch team, Hermione didn't see that as a reward like Ron and I did, she saw it as an excuse to reprimand all of us. She's a nice girl, but honestly, she's far too concerned with her work to think of anything else, like friendship and just having fun.

I've been wanting to give both of them a good slap upside the head, Ron a stronger one than Hermione, and try to talk some sense into them. Ron needs to accept that just because Hermione's smarter than him, it doesn't give him the right to be jealous of her and call her a nightmare. And Hermione needs to quit being such a stickler for the rules and quit clinging to her books and learn to have some fun. But I've been having a hard time finding the right time for that. Well, today was the right time.

It all came to a climax during Charms. We were meant to be learning how to levitate feathers, and we were all divided into pairs. I was working with Lavender Brown, Harry was working with Seamus Finnegan and Ron was working with Hermione. Neither of them were particularly happy with that arrangement. Hermione did the spell perfectly the first go round, and that made Ron very angry and jealous. I could tell that while he didn't want to be the first one and didn't want to show off in front of the rest of the class, he didn't want Hermione to either. But get there first and show off, that's what she did.

"Those two really need to stop," I said to myself. "This is getting annoying."

What's worse, Hermione started correcting Ron, which irritated him immensely. She kept telling what he should and should not be doing, and that he was saying the incantation wrong.

"It's levi_osa_, not leviosa," she said. "And it's win_gar_dium, make the –_gar_ nice and long."

Both Ron and I were ready to shut her up by that comment. But luckily, an argument was diverted when Seamus blew his feather up.

Later, Ron was complaining to Harry and I about how Hermione is. His exact words were, "'it's levi_osa_, not leviosa.' She's a nightmare honestly. No wonder she hasn't got any friends." Hermione shoved right past him at that moment and we all looked after her nervously.

"I thinks she heard you," said Harry.

I then turned to look at Ron and said, "that's where you're wrong. She does have one friend. She has me." And I ran off after her. After some asking around, I finally found her in the girl's bathroom. I could hear her crying inside one of the stalls. "Hermione, it's Leslie," I said to her. "Are you all right?"

"Please go away Leslie," she said in between sobs. "He was right."

"No he wasn't. You do have friends. You have me, and Parvati and Lavender. Ron was just being an idiot, he doesn't know anything. And hey, he's a boy, what do you expect? Boys his age don't know anything about the way girls think, and they never will. So just don't listen to him, because whatever he says is not worth crying over."

She unlocked the stall door and came out to face me. Her eyes were red and her face was tear-streaked. I put my arms around her and tried to comfort her as best as I could. She just cried her eyes out and said, "but he says things like that all the time. He's never said I don't have friends before, but he mocks me because of how much I study all the time."

"He's just being jealous and irritable," I said. "He's not worth it. So dry your eyes."

She sniffed and finally gave me a small smile. "Thank you Leslie. I don't know what's wrong with me. I usually don't get this upset over comments like that. I suppose I've just heard too many of them."

"You just need to let go," I said. "You need to stop being so picky, stop being a know-it-all, and just have some fun while you're here. Get out, socialize, make new friends. Life isn't just books and studying. Life is about the people around you, friendship, family, courage, loyalty, and love. If those didn't exist, then we truly would have nothing."

She looked at me as though she'd never seen anything like me before. "That's very poetic," she said. "Where did you hear something like that?"

"From my uncle," I replied. "He's full of wisdom. I can't tell you the number of times he's told me that, along with all the rest of his advice and proverbs. If you ever come to my house, he'll bore them all into your mind." And she finally managed to laugh at that. I laughed with her and asked her, "Do you feel all right enough to come down to the Halloween feast with me?"

"No thank you," she said. "I'm not hungry, and besides, I don't want to see Ron."

I could tell that while the words I'd told her had given her some comfort, she still wasn't ready to go downstairs. She was also still trying to absorb what I'd told her, that she had to let go of her books a bit, which I think shocked her, since she clings to those books so much. I just let go and said, "all right. Would you like me to bring some food back up to the dormitory for later?"

"Yes, would you?" she asked.

I nodded and replied, "as long as you can show me a spell that will keep it warm until you're ready to eat it."

"Oh I can," she said with a smile, and we both laughed at that.

I went down to the feast and she stayed in the girl's bathroom. She was still sniffling a bit, but it had lessened considerably. I was estimating that she'd need about ten more minutes there, then she'd head back up to the common room. I made my way down to the Great Hall and took a seat beside Harry at the Gryffindor table.

The feast was amazing. There were enormous pumpkins floating above the ceiling, carved into Halloween jack-o-lanterns, large enough for three grown men to sit in at least. There were even live bats flying around, which created shadows over the walls when they flew in front of the pumpkins. It was enchanting and the food was excellent, with all sorts of different dishes, plus pies and cakes for dessert. We were all having such a wonderful time, but then the night was spoiled.

Professor Quirrell came bursting into the Great Hall, shouting about a troll. He shrieked at the top of his lungs, yelling that there was a troll in the dungeons, then fainted on the spot. Everyone started screaming instantly and it was several minutes before Dumbledore was able to silence everyone. He instructed the prefects to take their houses back to the dormitories, while the teachers followed him to the dungeons.

I caught Cedric's eye as I was leaving the Great Hall. I was looking around to make sure Harry and Ron were close to me, and I saw him coming with a group of Hufflepuffs. He looked directly at me and mouthed to me, "be careful." I nodded at him and mouthed back, "you too." But then Harry grabbed my hand and pulled me along, saying he didn't want me to get lost in the crowd.

Just as we were walking off, I thought I saw Cedric looking at us jealously, as though he didn't like the idea of another boy holding my hand. But then, he's never held my hand himself, so why should he be jealous? It reminded me of a few weeks ago, when he looked jealous because I had confided in Harry and not him. I did blush a bit as Harry tightly grasped my hand, and I don't think that pleased Cedric either.

As we walked down the corridor back to Gryffindor Tower, Percy shouting at all of us to keep up and stay alert, Harry, Ron and I talked of how the troll could possibly have entered Hogwarts Castle.

"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked.

"Not on its own," said Ron. "Trolls are really stupid. Peeves probably let it in as a Halloween joke."

That's when it hit us. Harry and I looked at each other and remembered that Hermione didn't know about the troll. She was still in the girl's bathroom. We snuck away from the group, the three of us, and ran back down the corridor. When we heard footsteps coming, we ducked behind a statue, expecting to see Percy, but instead we saw Snape. He was walking quickly in the direction of the forbidden corridor on the third floor.

"That's odd," I said. "What's he going that way for? He should be down in the dungeons with the rest of the faculty."

"Do you think it has something to do with that three-headed dog?" asked Ron.

"It might," said Harry. "As soon as this is over, we need to find out more about that dog." We were about to continue moving down the corridor, but then we heard a loud grunting sound and the loud thuds of something moving our way.

"I think the troll's left the dungeon," said Ron, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Way to state the obvious Ron," I said.

We kept to the shadows and prayed that it wouldn't see us, and luckily it didn't. It passed us and walked into a nearby doorway. Harry dashed forward, closed the door behind it and locked it.

"At least it won't bother us," Harry said, coming back towards us.

I was the only one who saw what was wrong with that picture. "Harry, are you crazy?" I asked him. "That's the girl's bathroom! You just locked that thing in with…" I was cut off by a scream coming from the locked door.

"Hermione!" the three of us shouted together. We ran back towards the door and Harry quickly unlocked and threw it open. That hideous beast had cornered Hermione; she was cowering in a corner of the bathroom, staring up at it. I can't even begin to describe the look of fear on her face. She was as white as a ghost, her eyes wide, filled with tears, this time with fright, not sadness. It was clear she thought she wasn't going to make it, and she wasn't if she just sat there and if no one came to help her.

Well, that's what we were there for.

"Hermione move!" yelled Harry, but she couldn't. She was rooted to the spot.

We all immediately threw bits of debris at the troll in the hope of distracting it and Ron called it "pea brain." That got its attention. It turned toward us with its club raised and began to leave Hermione alone.

"Leslie, go help Hermione, Ron and I will deal with the troll," Harry shouted at me.

I didn't need telling twice. I didn't want to face that thing, so I decided leaving it to Ron and Harry was the best idea. While they distracted him for me, I was able to sneak around it and make it over to Hermione. I put my arms around her shoulders comfortingly and tried to make her stand up, but she was still scared.

"Hermione, listen to me, we have to get out of here right now!" I said to her.

"But what do we do though?" she asked.

"Never turn to her in a crisis," I said to myself. Then to her, I said, "Harry and Ron can distract it long enough for us to run, then they can follow us. Come on, we can't stay here! It's too dangerous."

But the troll by this point had realized we were behind him, and swung his club at us. We both screamed and got out of the way, but it just narrowly missed us. That thing might have been large and stupid, but it knew better than to let so much as one of us get away.

What happened next still disgusts me and I mean that literally. Harry dodged an attack from it, grabbed hold of his club and landed on the thing's back, which ended up with him sticking his wand up the troll's nose. It was so gross. Hermione and I both shut our eyes against the sight, and wished we could transport ourselves to a nice, safe place where nothing could hurt us. But we were jerked back to reality when we heard Harry give a shout. The troll had jerked him off his back and was holding him by the foot.

"Do something!" he shouted at Ron.

"What?" Ron asked, looking for something to help him.

"Anything!" Harry shouted back.

"Swish and flick," Hermione called to him, making the movement with her wrist.

Then Ron got his wand out, shouted, "_wingardium leviosa_!" and the troll's own club levitated into the air and then fell right on his head. The great oaf was knocked unconscious and we were able to take a minute to catch our breath.

"Correction, do look to Hermione in a crisis," I said to myself.

Harry retrieved his wand and he was just coming to see if Hermione and I were all right, when Professor's McGonagall, Quirrell and Snape appeared on the scene. We knew we were in for it then, Professor McGonagall looked like she was ready to give all three of us detention for the rest of our Hogwart's terms.

"It's my fault Professor McGonagall," said Hermione. "I went looking for the troll. I've read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. If Harry and Ron hadn't come and found me, I'd probably be dead." Harry, Ron and I tried out hardest to look as though this was the truth and thank the Lord she bought it.

"Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgment," she said. Then she turned to us and said, "as for you three, I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points will be awarded to each of you, for sheer dumb luck."

The four of us went back to the Gryffindor common room together, said thanks, and enjoyed the rest of the feast next to a roaring hot fire, among the company of our classmates.

I just hope that this will alleviate more arguments between Ron and Hermione in the future. We did save her life and she did get us out of trouble. But I think it's safe to say that the four of us are now all friends, and nothing will ever change that. We're a foursome and we're going to be a foursome for years to come.

But even in the face of this good news, I can't help but wonder how the troll did get in. I didn't even think there were trolls in the Forbidden Forest, let alone near the castle. Someone must have let in, and I don't think it was Peeves like Ron suggested. I think something's going on around here, something dark and evil, and it has to do with that three-headed dog. I can tell Harry shares my suspicions. He didn't voice it after we got back to the common room; none of us wanted to mention the ordeal that night, but we shared a glance and he knew I was thinking the same thing he was. We're going to have to get to the bottom of this, before something else happens, and before someone really does get hurt.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** Okay, so we have four best friends, two of whom are out to solve the mystery of why that dog is in the corridor, and how the troll got into the castle. From what I've already built up, you can tell that Harry and Leslie are going to be the ones who figure this out first. Harry will be the one who gets it when the time comes, and after one thing he says, Leslie will pick it up. Both the girls are smart, Hermione academically and Leslie, academically as well as socially. She's very street smart, very good at picking up on the underlying tones of what people is saying, which is going to come in handy later in the series. Next chapter is going to be suspicions of what Snape is up to around the school. Stay tuned!


	9. November 6th, 2001

**Author's Note: **All right, now we've skipped ahead another week to the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I've added more dialogue between the characters over the incident with Snape before the match, and I've added in an extra scene between Harry and Leslie after the match. Happy reading!

11-06-2001

Dear Diary,

Snape is up to something. There's no doubt about it now. He was certainly acting suspicious the night of the troll, going up to the forbidden corridor when everyone else was in the dungeon. But now Harry thinks he's after that package Hagrid took from Gringotts, and I think he's right.

But what happened on Halloween was just the start of it. Yesterday, the four of us were out on the grounds, trying to keep warm in front of a fire. Harry had one of his books with him, _Quidditch through the Ages_. Snape came limping towards us, and we looked at him warily, trying to hide the fire. He didn't see that, but he did see the book in Harry's hand.

"Library books are not to be taken out of the castle," he said. "Five points from Gryffindor."

"He's made that rule up," said Harry.

"What's the matter with his leg?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I hope it's really hurting him," said Ron.

"Ron!" said Hermione, very shocked. "You can't say that about a Hogwarts teacher!"

"Sure he can," I said. "He can say anything he wants about the teachers as long as they aren't able to hear it."

"I'll bet they can, it wouldn't surprise me if these walls had ears," said Harry bitterly.

Later back in the common room, Harry was griping about the book so much that finally, we just told him to go ask for it back, and he did. He found Snape and Filch together in the staff room, and apparently Snape had a bite mark running up his entire leg, which was bleeding profusely. Filch was unrolling a wad of bandages to put on Snape's knee and he was saying something about keeping an eye on all three heads at once.

"What on Earth?" I asked when Harry told us about it. "I knew Snape was up to something, but what could he possibly want with that that dog?"

"He wants that package from Gringotts," said Harry. By this time, Harry and I had already told Ron and Hermione about that package that Hagrid withdrew from Gringotts. "That's the only thing it could be. Whatever's in that package, it has to be really powerful or really dangerous."

"Or both," said Ron.

"But it was so small," said Harry. "How powerful could it be?

"You'd be surprised Harry," I said. "I've heard countless stories from my uncle about magical objects that were amazingly powerful, yet so small that they could easily fit into the palm of your hand."

"But that still doesn't change the fact that Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher," said Hermione. "He wouldn't try and commit grand theft right under Dumbledore's nose. There has to be someone else doing this."

"Hermione, can't you see that he's up to no good?" asked Ron.

"Whether Snape's the one behind it or not, we have to figure out what's going on around here," I said, before they could get in another argument. Even after the incident with the troll, they still argue all the time. "What happened at Halloween was just the beginning. Something evil is going on you guys, and if we don't do something, no one else will."

"She's right," said Harry. "It's going to be up to us to solve the problem."

The next morning, this morning, was focused more on the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Harry's been really nervous, and understandably so. I mean, after all, this is his first match, and he's going to be up against people who've had much more experience than he has. The captain of the team, Oliver Wood, he tried to reassure Harry, but I don't think he did much good. Ron, Hermione and I have all tried our best, but he won't listen to us. Poor Harry, he wouldn't even eat breakfast this morning.

"Harry, you're going to need your strength today," we all said.

"All he said was, "I'm not hungry."

I knew he'll do well though. My father and uncle were both at Hogwarts at the same time as his father. I've heard Uncle Jerry tell me so many times about what a terrific Seeker James Potter was. My father, Edward Angkatell, was a Chaser at about the same time, a great Quidditch player himself, but nowhere as good as James was. Hermione even took us to see a trophy that had his name on it, showing the whole school just how good a Quidditch player he was.

And Harry played very well for his first match. Once when the Snitch made an appearance, however, the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, blocked him on purpose. His Seeker didn't catch that little ball, but Harry didn't either.

"He can't do that!" I shouted angrily.

"It's the Slytherin team, what do you expect?" Ron said, just as angrily.

But then of course, something else had to happen, something very nerve-wracking and very dangerous. A few minutes after the foul on Harry, his broom began pitching and lurching, spinning right out of his control. At one point, it threw him over the side so that he was dangling on by one hand. He was almost thrown off completely and if he had hit the ground, it would have killed him. And that was a Nimbus 2000, it shouldn't have been doing something like that.

We were all wondering what to do, when something Hagrid said made Hermione start looking through her binoculars at the crowds.

"What on Earth are you doing?" I asked her.

"It's Snape," she said at last. "He's jinxing the broom."

"Jinxing the broom, what do we do?" asked Ron.

"Leave it to me," said Hermione. Ron and I just stood as she dashed off into the stands.

"Where is she going?" asked Ron.

"My best guess would be to see if she can stop Snape," I replied.

"Does she think she can waltz right up to him and politely ask him to stop putting a spell on that broomstick?" asked Ron. I just shrugged.

She had passed the binoculars off to me as she went, so I looked over at the teacher's box, and sure enough, there was Snape, staring directly at Harry, unblinking, muttering words under his breath. I also saw her slip under the stands where he was sitting and pull out her wand.

"What are you doing Hermione?" I asked.

What she was doing was setting Snape's cloak on fire. But set it alight she did and then got the heck out of there. It caused a ruckus in the box and broke Snape's eye contact. I thought she was crazy doing such a thing and said as much to her, but she didn't listen. She never does. Thankfully though, Harry managed to get back on his broom and won the game, but it was a very close call. I don't think I've ever heard of a Seeker catching the Snitch in his mouth before either, but he did.

Later, when we were talking about Snape to Hagrid, he said that it was all nonsense.

"Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broomstick?" he asked.

"Who knows, why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween?" asked Harry.

You should have seen the look on Hagrid's face. It was a mixture of shock, confusion and a little bit of anger in there somewhere. I don't think he liked it that we knew about that dog, but the damage was done.

"Who told you about Fluffy?" he asked.

Well, you can imagine how shocked we all were when we found out it has a name, let alone one as gentle and innocuous as Fluffy. I had to choke back a very discourteous remark. The dog belongs to Hagrid it seems, and now it belongs to Dumbledore, to guard something. But just as Hagrid was about to tell us what, he cut himself off.

"But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it," argued Harry.

"Kodswallop, Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher," said Hagrid.

"Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one," said Hermione. "I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking." I didn't think Hagrid would be able to find anything to say to argue with that logic, but he just kept right on talking.

"Now you listen to me, you're meddling in things that aren't not to be meddled in," he said. "Whatever that dog's guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

"Ah, so there's someone called Nicholas Flamel involved is there?" asked Harry.

Hagrid just walked off, mumbling over and over again, "I shouldn't have said. I should not have said that."

"Nicholas Flamel?" asked Harry. "Who's Nicholas Flamel?"

"I don't know," said Hermione, which was a little strange to hear, considering she knows the answer to every question the teachers ask her.

These last couple hours have consisted of Harry and I sitting in the Gryffindor common room long after everyone else had gone to bed. We were talking about Nicholas Flamel and where we've heard about him before. Harry is sure he's heard the name somewhere before and so am I, but neither of us can remember where we've heard it. It's maddening.

"Could it be in one of our textbooks?" I asked him.

"I don't think so," he replied. "I didn't read them all thoroughly before coming."

"Neither did I, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have read it in passing."

"I still don't think so."

"Well, could it be in something you've read recently, a paper or something?" I asked.

"No, I don't think that's right either," he said to me.

"Well, where else could you possibly have heard it?"

"I don't know Leslie, but I'm counting on you to help me remember," he said. "Will you help me?"

"I'll try my best," I said with a smile. "Now, where else can you have read it?"

"I don't know," he said. "I can't think of anything else I've read that would have the name."

"You're not being much help, you know," I said to him. "How am I supposed to help you remember where you've heard his name, if you don't give me something to go on? This is very frustrating Harry. You're negating all my ideas. I should warn you, I don't take kindly to people shooting down every idea I have."

"I'm sorry Leslie," he said. "Believe me, I'm as frustrated as you are, and I don't mean to be so negative. It's just that Flamel is the key to all this, and until I find out who he is…"

"Until we find out who he is," I interrupted.

"That's what I meant," he said, giving a small smile. "We have to find out, we just have to."

"And we will," I said. "Starting tomorrow, we'll go to the library in between classes and do research until we know exactly who he is. Don't worry Harry, we'll figure out what's going on around here. I promise."

"I know, I know we will," he said, smiling at me. There was something about that smile, I don't know what it was. It was kind, like all his smiles are, but at the same time, it was telling me something. I don't know what it was. Perhaps I'm just overanalyzing it, but I doubt it.

There's something else as well. As I got up to say good night and go back to my dormitory, I took a bad step and almost tripped. It's a habit of mine. He caught my arm as I was about to fall to the floor, and pulled me back onto my feet. My face was just inches from his.

"Are you all right?" he asked me.

"I'm fine," I whispered back, not entirely sure what I was supposed to say or do. I was thankful he let go of my arm at that moment. I just stepped back and said, "good night Harry," before dashing up the stairs as quickly as I could.

I don't know what it was that happened down there, but I think Harry and I just had a moment. Then I couldn't help but think back to the night I arrived, and the number of times he caught me as I slipped climbing the hill up here.

Now, I think I'm going to have two boys chasing after me, Harry and Cedric, if Cedric's going to chase after me after all. I still don't think he likes me the way I do him, but I still can't forget that look he gave me as Harry and I walked out of the Great Hall at Halloween, hand in hand. It was as though he was jealous that anyone but him was holding my hand.

I need some time to think about this. I wish my mother and sister were both here, they would know what to say. Elena would be 16 right now, she would already have started thinking about boys, she might even have had a boyfriend by now. And Mother, she would have gone through this whole thing when she was my age. I wish they were here, but they're not, and I'm going to have to make it through adolescence on my own. Uncle Jerry will try to help me I know, but he can't, not in several respects. I need my mom, and I can't see her. What do I do? Who does one turn to when she has lost all that's good in her life? Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** Okay, so we have all four of them out to solve the mystery of the three-headed dog, better known as Fluffy (even years after reading the book, I still can't believe Hagrid called him that), and we have the clue of Nicholas Flamel. It took me a little while to get Harry and Leslie's conversation down, because I had to put in Harry's determination to discover the truth, as well as Leslie's persistence and will to help her friends. And I just had to put in that little bit at the end, because even though Leslie's intelligent, she hasn't had any experience of affairs of the heart (she's only 11), and therefore doesn't know how to react to the way Harry gripped her arm. I couldn't resist putting that in. I'll post again when I can. Stay tuned!


	10. December 25th, 2001

**Author's Note: **Ta-da, a Christmas chapter! I couldn't resist putting one up since so much happened at Christmastime in the story. However, this isn't going to feature any of the things that happened in the book, considering Leslie wasn't there for any of it. This is just strictly for entertainment purposes. It's my Christmas present to you all! I hope you guys like it! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

12-25-2001

Dear Diary,

Merry Christmas little diary! Merry Christmas indeed! What a holiday it has been. I've been enjoying the last several days immensely, and I wish they could go on forever, but it's close to midnight, and though I wish it could last, Christmas is over. But that doesn't mean I can't relish it, relive it one last time before I go to bed.

One thing I love about England is that it looks spectacular in the snow, particularly the countryside. And believe me, if you had eyes, you would love Hogwarts castle as it is now. It looks so beautiful. The grounds always look so peaceful at night, but now on top of all that, they look stunningly beautiful. The grass has been covered in a soft, white blanket of snow, which looks grey when one looks out the window. It's just so peaceful. On the day before I left for home, we had a large snowfall, and I was wondering if the train would be able to get back to King's Cross, but it was all right.

The rest of the castle looked just as wonderful. There were garlands and wreaths hanging from all the walls, the coats of armor had been polished, the paintings decorated, and best of all was the Great Hall. Twelve enormous Christmas trees had been placed at the head of the hall, and Professor Flitwick cast so many charms and spells to decorate them. At breakfast one day about ten days ago, I didn't do much talking, I just sat and ate and watched him work. They look gorgeous.

It made me want to come home for the holidays even more, and that Uncle Jerry and I would be able to start decorating. My absolute favorite part of Christmas is decorating the tree. What we always do is use magic to put the lights on the tree and then we put the ornaments on by hand. I just think it's more fun that way. When I was little, he would send me out of the room to get drinks or something, while he did the lights, then I would come back in the room and they would all be on the tree. I kept asking him, "Uncle Jerry, how did you get all those lights on so quickly?" and he would answer with a twinkle in his eye, "magic." I didn't know he meant that literally until after I found out he was a wizard. Now, I just sit and watch him cast the spell to decorate the trees and then we put the ornaments on together.

Hermione was looking forward to seeing her family as well. She and I went home on the train together, while Ron and Harry stayed at school. We've been spending these past days in the library, researching Nicholas Flamel.

I can't believe we haven't found anything yet. We're bound to turn up something soon, but we're completely on our own. We can't ask Madam Pince, the librarian. There's too much risk that Snape will hear us. Harry suggested that Hermione and I ask our family members. I didn't bother to tell him there'd be no good in that. Hermione's parents are both Muggles, they wouldn't know much about someone called Nicholas Flamel, if he belongs to the wizarding world. And I didn't dare ask Uncle Jerry. He might know, but I don't want him finding out what we're up to just yet. Asking him about Nicholas Flamel would mean telling him about Hagrid saying it, which would lead to telling him about the three-headed dog, and sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower three months ago. I know he wouldn't approve of that, and I don't want our Christmas spoiled by him punishing me for that. He'd punish me, then write to Cedric and tell him to keep a closer eye on me.

Speaking of Cedric, he and I are growing closer. We see each most days now; we pass each other in the corridors, he winks at me, and I smile at him. It's our way of saying hello. Sometimes, we go for a walk down by the lake and talk about things going on during school, mostly about classes, and he gives me some tips on getting through some of the tougher parts. These last two and a half weeks, when the snow began to fall, he and I exchange a quick word in the hallway as we're walking to and from class, or into and out of the Great Hall.

I remember a conversation we had the night before I left. I was on my way back to Gryffindor Tower with Hermione after dinner, when Cedric came up behind us and tapped me on the shoulder.

Just as he did that day three months ago, he politely asked Hermione, "may I please speak to Leslie alone?"

"Of course you may," she answered, giving me a sly grin. She knows how I feel about Cedric, I told her once when she and I were alone in the dormitory. We know all each other's secrets now, and it does feel good to have a best friend. She said to me, "I'll see you back in the common room Leslie," and headed off down the corridor. Cedric took my hand and led me down another corridor, all the way to the abandoned classroom, the one where I told him about the three-headed dog.

We went inside, sat down and I asked him, "what did you wish to speak to me about?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone," he said, and a girl always knows to listen carefully when a conversation starts like that. I knew he wasn't going to do anything, we're both too young, but what I was hoping was that he was going to drop some kind of hint that he returns my sentiments. He said, "I know there isn't going to be much time tomorrow, so I wanted to go ahead and talk with you tonight, while I still had the chance. I just want to wish you Merry Christmas, and to take care of yourself over the holidays."

I smiled at him and said, "you have a Merry Christmas too Cedric. Say hello to your father for me."

"Of course, and you say hello to your uncle for me," he answered.

"I will," I said.

"I also wanted to ask you," said Cedric. "You haven't had any more nighttime wanderings have you?"

I shook my head and said, "no, I haven't. Except for a few times I go downstairs and sit in the common room at night, I haven't left my dormitory. But I haven't left Gryffindor Tower at night in three months."

"Good," he said. "You go down and sit in your common room at night?"

"Yes, sometimes when I can't sleep, I go down there and sit. It's quiet and private. It's nice."

"Every first year class has it's runt of the litter, keep this up and it'll be you."

"Thanks," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

He chuckled and said, "all right, I'm sorry. But, just look after yourself; it isn't safe in some parts of the castle. But, this is the holiday season. Let's not worry about that and just enjoy Christmas."

I nodded and said, "yes. Let's enjoy the season."

"Do you have any plans?" he asked me.

"Aside from spending the entire vacation with my uncle, no," I said. "Why, do you?"

"My parents and I are going to Wales for about ten days to visit my mother's family," he said. "They're a family that likes doing everything that it's possible to do for Christmas. They put up an enormous tree, decorate it, have a Christmas party, sing carols in the streets, make Christmas pudding, the whole enchilada. I like going, but usually by the time the trip is over, I'm all Christmas-ed out, and ready to spend a few days at home before I have to come back here for the spring term."

"I imagine so," I said. "But it sounds like fun. Uncle Jerry and I are very low key when it comes to Christmas. We put up a tree, put a wreath on the door, listen to a little Christmas music, sip eggnog on Christmas Day, and exchange gifts.

"That's all you need," he said. I nodded, and we spent several minutes in silence, trying to think of something to say.

"Look, I have to go, my friends are waiting for me," he said. "But one more thing Leslie," and he stuck his hand into his bag and pulled out a small package wrapped in dark red wrapping paper. "Think of me on Christmas morning, when you open this."

I looked at him incredulously. "Cedric, you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," he said. "Not having much family, I know your uncle is the only one you've ever gotten presents from, so I decided to change that this year. Take it." I was about to protest, but he gently took my hand, placed the little gift in my palm, and closed my fingers around it. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze as he did that.

"I haven't even gotten to my shopping yet," I said. "But I'll send my owl over with something on Christmas day."

"You don't have to," he said, blushing a little bit.

"After such a kind gesture, I can't let it go unreturned," I said. "I'll find you a nice gift."

"Thank you," he said, giving me one of those kind and charming smiles of his.

"Merry Christmas Cedric," I said, and I reached up and gave him a hug.

"Merry Christmas Leslie," he said back.

I headed for the door, and as I reached it, I turned back and said, "bye," before opening it and heading back for the common room. When I got there, everyone else was sitting by the fire, exchanging pleasantries before going to bed. I sat down on the sofa next to Hermione and spoke with her, Harry and Ron for a little while.

"So, you two are going to stay out of trouble, aren't you?" I asked the two boys.

"We might," said Harry, giving me a mischievous grin.

"Please try not to break too many rules over the holidays," said Hermione. I rolled my eyes at her, and smiled. "But at least, while everyone else is gone, and while there's no classes, you'll have more time to go to the library and look up information on Nicholas Flamel."

"But we're not going to go and look him up every second of every day," said Ron.

"He's got a point," said Harry. "We have to have some fun. This is Christmas, Hermione."

"He's right," I said. "Haven't you ever heard of enjoying yourself Hermione?"

She tried to scowl at me, but it didn't work and it turned into a very hearty smile and laugh. We all shared a good laugh, wished each other Merry Christmas and headed up for the dormitory.

The next day was so hectic, getting last minute packing done and making sure I had everything. But we got everything loaded and onto the train. Hermione and I said goodbye to Harry and Ron and got in the carriages that would take us down to the train platform. The boys stood on the steps of the castle and watched us go, waving until our carriage was out of sight. I looked back at Harry and felt a twinge in my heart; I was going to miss all the boys in my life this Christmas.

The train ride was very pleasant. Hermione, Lavender, Parvati and I all sat in the same compartment and talked about Christmas, what all our traditions were and what we hoped we'd be getting. I spent most of the ride staring out at the English countryside. It looked so picturesque, covered in snow and ice, and I remember thinking to myself, "wouldn't it be wonderful to live out here, away from all the noise and traffic of the city?" I think when I get married and move away, I want to live in the country.

While I loved the train, the best part of the day by far was reaching King's Cross, stepping off the train at Platform 9¾, and seeing Uncle Jerry standing there waiting for me, a large smile on his face and arms folded over his chest. I dashed quickly over to him and gave him the largest hug I could, and he returned it just as happily.

"Hello Leslie," he said, kissing me on top of the head. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Uncle Jerry, it's so good to see you," I squealed.

"It's good to see you too Darling," he said. I said goodbye to Hermione, Lavender and Parvati and wished them all a Merry Christmas, then headed back home with Uncle Jerry, my smile never once leaving my face.

This last week has been spent in utter bliss, which I believe is the best feeling in the world. Just going along at your own pace, not letting anything bother you, and you just feel that if you keep going like this, nothing can ever hurt you. I always feel that way at Christmas, but it always ends. Sad.

Anyway, Uncle Jerry waited until I came home to put up all the Christmas decorations. We decorated the tree together, he put up a wreath, and used his wand to make eggnog, which tastes delicious by the way, and I made some brownies from an old recipe of my mother's. I think of her every time I use it, and I wish she was there to help me. But I do a good job on my own.

I finished my shopping two days before Christmas, but when Christmas Eve arrived, I still didn't know how I was going to get the gifts to their recipients. Uncle Jerry, who had already exchanged gifts with people at the office, allowed me to use his owl as well as my own for the trip. That was good, because I had several things I wanted to drop off. I bought two packs of Chocolate Frogs, one each for Harry and Ron, a hairpin for Hermione in the shape of a butterfly, and makeup kits for Parvati and Lavender (which are magical in that the makeup puts itself on your face so that you don't have to lift a finger).

My favorite, however, was the gift I got for Cedric. It was a book, entitled _Secrets of the Stars: A Look into what is Hidden in the Recesses of Space_. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but Cedric absolutely loves astronomy. The couple times I've gone to his house for dinner with Uncle Jerry, he's taken me out into the backyard for some star gazing. I think he'll enjoy it. I also made an extra batch of brownies for Cedric and his family to enjoy over Christmas dinner.

After I sent my gifts off, Uncle Jerry and I went to a Christmas Eve concert at a nearby church. We're not normal church goers, but this one does a very good concert every year, and we thought it might be a good idea to go. They did all the best Christmas carols,"Away in a Manger," "Carol of the Bells," and "O Holy Night." They also did the family favorites. Mom's favorite was, "The Little Drummer Boy," Dad's was, "Do you hear what I hear?" Uncle Jerry's is "The First Noel," and mine is "O Come All Ye Faithful." I went to bed thinking that this was such a wonderful Christmas.

The next morning, I awoke and went rushing downstairs, not caring if I woke Uncle Jerry or not. He was waiting for me by the Christmas tree, smiling broadly. There were two large stacks of presents, already sorted out, one for me, one for him. There were some books for the two of us, from some of his friends, some clothes that he had bought me, and some small trinkets. I got a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from Ron, Chocolate Frogs from Harry, and a book from Hermione entitled, _Legends and Myths of the Ancient Magical World_. I absolutely love folklore, so I suppose Hermione thought this would be a good fit for me, and she was right.

Then it was time to open Cedric's gift. I smiled in happy anticipation, and gasped as I opened it. It was a small brooch, nothing fancy, just a gold flower with a letter L in the middle. But it was still very beautiful, and I know I shall wear it on the first day back to school.

I thought that was all the gifts, but Uncle Jerry said that he had one more for me. He reached behind the tree, where he'd hidden it, and pulled back a small package, wrapped in gold paper. I took it and opened it, really gasping this time when I saw it. It was a gold signet ring with a coat of arms on it. The coat of arms was a shield, with just one emblem on it, harp. A dragon was on one side of the shield, a unicorn on the other. There were holly branches covering the entire top of the shield, and above it, two doves were holding a banner, with a motto on it, though it was too small to read.

Uncle Jerry then said to me, "I know you haven't studied much heraldry, so let me explain." He then pointed to a framed picture on the wall that shows the coat of arms in its entirety, the shape of the shield, the colors everything.

He continued, "the doves represent peace and love, the holly means truth, and the harp represents a well-tempered person with even judgment. The dragon stands for protection and the unicorn stands for valor and strength. Last, but definitely not least, the banner reads, 'a coeur valliant, rien impossible,' which translates into, 'to a valiant heart, nothing is impossible.'"

"It's our family crest," he said proudly, holding up his right hand to show me a similar ring. "Everyone in the Angkatell family has one. It's a symbol Leslie. It means that no matter what happens, no matter how much you change, even when you marry and take your husband's name, you are an Angkatell. Your identity is the most important thing you have. Promise me you'll never forget that, all right darling?"

I nodded, then broke down crying and threw my arms around him. He just patted me on the back, and said, "there there, my dear. It's all right."

Once I had calmed down, I stared back at the painting of the coat of arms with a new appreciation for it and for my family. I then asked, "Uncle Jerry, if half this of this emblem stands for courage and valor, how come so few members of our family have been in Gryffindor."

"You're the first in awhile, I will admit that," said Uncle Jerry. He went over to the bookshelf and pulled down an old book, which turned out to be a record of our family history. We perused it together; he told me about most of my ancestors, while I looked over all the names and pictures. There was a large family tree, and each section had the name of the person, their birthday and what Hogwarts house they were in.

"In the beginnings of our family history, every member of the Angkatell family was in Gryffindor. But then some people were put in Hufflepuff and for about 200 years, the line was split between the two houses. Now, the in-laws were all a mix of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw; your mother was a Ravenclaw."

I ran my hand over the section about my parents. There was a branch that read, "_Edward Christopher Angkatell, born 22__nd__ July, 1962, died 7__th__ November, 1991, Hufflepuff House_" and connected to it was,_ "Lydia Rosalie Christianson, born 8__th__ June, 1964, died 7__th__ November, 1991, Ravenclaw House._" The line that joined my parents names read, "_married 25__th__ February, 1984_." I could help but tear up again as I read their names and the two that ran underneath it. The first read, "_Elena Henrietta Angkatell, born 9__th__ October, 1985, died 7__th__ November, 1991,_" and finally, "_Leslie Caroline Angkatell, born 2__nd__ January, 1990, Gryffindor House._"

Uncle Jerry reached over to the table beside the sofa and got a photo off it. It's my favorite out of all the photos he has. It was of him and my parents standing outside their home in Southampton Cove. Father had one arm around Uncle Jerry and the other around Mother. She was holding the hand of a five year old brunette, which was Elena, and was holding a little bundle tightly in her other arm, which was me.

"They'd be proud of you right now, and so am I," he said. We sat there for a few more minutes, going over family history. But then he put the book away and said, "it's Christmas, let's enjoy ourselves for the rest of the day." I nodded, glad to do something that wouldn't make me cry again.

We spent the rest of the day reading, cooking or doing whatever pleased us. We went for a walk around midday to see all the snow that had fallen overnight. We passed many people as we went, wished them Happy Christmas, and walked on in bright spirits.

It's been a wonderful Christmas. I sent Harry an owl earlier asking how his Christmas had gone and what he and Ron have been doing. I just hope they haven't done something that'll get them expelled, but knowing those two, there's no telling. I'll leave it at that. Merry Christmas little diary!

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, Leslie's had a Merry Christmas, she's learned more about her family and did you notice, not a single one of her ancestors, blood relatives or in-laws, has ever been in Slytherin? Yep, she's a member of one of the oldest wizarding families there is, and not one member has ever been in Slytherin. I had to do that, I didn't want any person related to her in that house. No offense to Slytherin fans, but I can't stand that house. Anyway, sorry if you guys were expecting more updates on the events of the books, but I wanted a chapter that had more to do with Christmas than duels, three-headed dogs, and Quidditch. I'll update again soon! To all of you out there, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


	11. March 12, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, we've skipped ahead to when Hagrid gets the dragon's egg. I'm going to have most of it all happen at once, just because I don't want to put in a lot of the details that the book has. I'm also going to have how the group finds out about the Sorcerer's Stone, but I'm not going to mention the Mirror of Erised. I'll bring up the Invisibility Cloak in the next chapter, along with the detention for Harry and Hermione.

There's going to be a mix of dialogue from the movie and from the book in this chapter. When typing up the conversations for these things, I prefer to use the dialogue from the movie, because I just think it sounds better in some parts. There's some from the book as well, and I gave some of the lines to Leslie. Most of her stuff is made up though. I hope you like this chapter. Happy reading!

02-12-02

Dear Diary,

I can't believe Hagrid, I just can't believe him. Doesn't he realize how dangerous what he's doing is? Normally I might be able to handle it, but this on top of the Sorcerer's Stone and what Harry overheard, it's all too much to take in.

You don't know what I'm saying, do you little diary? I didn't think it had been that long since I'd last written. But going back over my last few entries, I realize that I haven't told you about the stone yet.

To start with, we've finally found out who Nicholas Flamel is, and strangely enough, after all the research we've been doing in the library for the last three months, we found out from a Chocolate Frog card. Apparently, he and Dumbledore were partners and have done work on alchemy together, but whether or not they created the stone together, I don't know. I don't think so.

Hermione ran up to her room to get a book from the library, and she found Flamel in it. That's another thing that bothers me, everything we need to know about Flamel was in our dormitory all along. I hate it when things are to be found right under your nose, but you can't see them. It's maddening.

I'll transcribe the passage from the book in here. It'll be easier and quicker than trying to explain. It read:

_The Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It'll transform any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday._

"That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor. That's what's under the trapdoor, the Sorcerer's Stone," said Hermione.

"No wonder Snape's after it. Anyone would want it," said Harry.

"Which makes me wonder if there's someone else in on it as well," I said. Harry and Ron looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Hermione, however, looked as though she thought I had a good point. I continued, "Snape may be cruel and vindictive, and greedy enough to want the stone for himself, but he's not stupid. He isn't going to try and steal it from right under Dumbledore's nose."

"She's right," said Hermione. "He can't do anything without Dumbledore finding out."

"All the same, how much longer do you reckon the stone will be safe?" asked Ron.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," I said.

"We may not have time to wait and see," said Harry. "But right now, that's our only option."

These last couple weeks have been absolute torture. Harry thinks that Snape can read minds, because from what he and I have observed, that foul man has been following us everywhere. He treats all four of us so maliciously, Harry most of all. He singles us out from the rest of the class for absolutely no reason at all. It's almost as if he's punishing us for finding out about the stone.

At the last Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, we all got a bit of a shock when we found out that Snape was to be the referee. We were certain he was going to try and hurt Harry and make it look like an accident, just like in the previous match. But we spotted Dumbledore in the teacher's box, and we all let out sighs of relief. There was no way he was going to hurt Harry with the headmaster in the crowd. The match was over in less than five minutes, but it was a relief to get out of there and away from Snape.

But then something strange happened. Harry was late coming into dinner from the Quidditch pitch, because he saw Snape dashing into the Forbidden Forest. And he was going out there to meet Quirrell. Snape asked him if he had gotten past Fluffy and said something about Quirrell's little bit of hocus-pocus.

When Harry got back to the castle and said he needed to talk to us in private, I led everyone up to the empty classroom that Cedric and I use to talk in.

"So we were right, it _is_ the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it," said Harry. "I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments probably."

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" asked Hermione, exchanging a frightened look with me.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," said Ron bitterly.

It's been a couple weeks since then, and as far as we can tell, the Stone is still safe. Quirrell is getting paler and thinner, and Snape is still looking sour and angry. Hermione is trying to tell us to give it a rest for a little bit and start studying for exams. While I am studying, I can't help but thinking that what might happen if Snape gets that stone is more important than our grades. But don't tell my uncle I said that.

But then, fate decided to give us another problem. Hagrid found us in the library and asked if we were still looking for information on Nicholas Flamel.

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's…"

"Shhh!" Hagrid whispered fearfully, also checking to see that no one was listening. "Don't go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

He also wouldn't tell us what was guarding the stone apart from Fluffy. He was too worried about eavesdroppers or that he'd get in trouble for telling us when he didn't. Well, he didn't tell us about the stone, but he gave us the ammunition we needed to find out about it. He just said to meet him in his hut later. Throughout the entire talk, he was being very furtive, and was hiding something behind his back. None of us could see what it was, but when Ron went to see what section he was in, he came back with his arms laden with books about dragons.

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him," said Harry.

"But it's against our laws," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden."

"He's right," I said. "The Ministry of Magic has to keep a watch on them all the time. My uncle has friends in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and he's told me countless stories about having to put memory charms and all kinds of other spells on Muggles who've seen dragons around. Then, they have to take care of the dragons themselves and make sure they don't get loose."

"So what's Hagrid up to then?" asked Hermione.

"Let's go over to his house later and find out," I said.

We went over later that afternoon, and I thought I'd have to step outside and listen to the conversation from there. It felt like an inferno in Hagrid's hut, but he wouldn't give us an answer for it straight away. How he was surviving that heat with his long, scratchy beard and his overcoat, I'll never know.

"I'm not saying anything," said Hagrid, when we asked what was guarding the stone apart from Fluffy. "You know too much already. Besides, I don't know meself what's guarding it."

"But you do know," I said flatteringly. "You know everything that happens here."

"That's right," said Hermione, in exactly the same tone. "We just wanted to know who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him apart from you."

That got Hagrid's attention. He gave us a list of the teachers that helped out. Unfortunately, it included Snape. Hagrid still thinks we're crazy for thinking Snape is the one trying to steal the Stone, but if he'd overheard what we have, and seen what we've seen, he wouldn't be in a position to argue.

All throughout this discussion, he kept glancing at the fire. We followed his gaze and saw something I never thought I'd ever see in my life. He had a dragon's egg! That goes back to what I said at the beginning of this entry: I can't believe him! Dragon breeding is dangerous, Ron said it himself. What happens when it hatches and worse, what happens when it grows? Hagrid said he got a Norwegian Ridgeback. That's a very rare dragon, and unfortunately, a very big dragon when it gets to be full grown.

The dragon hatched this morning. Hagrid's decided to call him Norbert and wants to raise him as if he was his own son. But there's one more problem. Hagrid saw somebody looking through the gap in the curtains, and when Harry went to the door to see who it was, he saw that it was Malfoy.

"I can't believe it," said Ron. "First we have Snape trying to steal the Stone, then we find that you have an illegal dragon, Hagrid, and now Malfoy knows about it. Can the situation possibly get any…"

"Shh," I said to him. "Don't ask if things can get worse Ron, because they always, always do."

"Hagrid, you have to let him go, set him free," said Harry.

"I can't, he's too little," said Hagrid, in a very protective voice.

"You can't keep him forever, you must know that," said Hermione.

"I know," said Hagrid. "But I can't just dump him, I can't."

Then Harry came up with the best idea I've ever heard out of anyone's mouth.

"Charlie," he said, turning to Ron. "Your brother, Charlie, in Romania. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back into the wild."

Hagrid agreed to it in the end, but he didn't look happy about it. Harry and Ron are at the owlery right now, getting Hedwig to send a letter to Charlie. I'd have offered them Ibbett, but he's delivering a letter to Uncle Jerry for me at the moment.

I hope that Charlie will be able to help us. Norbert will grow more quickly than Hagrid thinks he will, and Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment. If he tells anyone about Norbert, we're all sure to be expelled. And if Charlie says he can't take him, then we're done for.

I'd have asked Uncle Jerry what to do if hypothetically one of his friends was keeping an illegal dragon in his home. But Uncle Jerry is much too good at seeing through hypothetical situations, and he'd pump me for information. He's also good at getting people to tell him something they're hiding, very good if you work in the ministry, and he'd have me spilling my guts in about half a second. Then he'd send an owl to Cedric and have him start tailing me again, which is really starting to annoy me.

I asked Harry how long he thought it would take Hedwig to get to Romania and back, but he said he didn't know. As long as she's back within a few days, then I think we'll be all right. I'll tell you the plan as soon as I know it. Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, Hagrid has an illegal dragon, Malfoy knows about it, and Harry came up with the plan to get it back. Things aren't looking so good for these kids, are they? So, next chapter will be the detention from McGonagall in the Forbidden Forest, and the chapter after that will be going through the trapdoor to get to the Stone. There are going to be a few things different in those chapters as well, but I think I'm following the storyline all right. Stay tuned!


	12. April 3rd, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, we've skipped ahead to past the detention in the Forbidden Forest. Leslie's writing about everything that's happened since Hagrid got the dragon egg in one go. I've had to kind of extend the time between the two diary entries so that they fit more into the Harry Potter timeline, even though I know they don't happen so far apart. I don't know if that made any sense at all, but just go with it. I told you when I wrote this story that I'd be changing a few things in there, didn't I? Anyway, happy reading!

04-03-02

Dear Diary,

I was right. If there's a way for things to get worse, then they always will get worse. The good news is that Norbert's gone. The bad news is that tonight Harry, Hermione and Neville all had to serve detention in the Forbidden Forest. Yes, the one on the grounds that's forbidden to all students. And yes, Neville was there as well. I couldn't believe it when they got back to the common room and told me what they had to do. I couldn't believe it either when I heard what happened during their visit. That's the even worse news: Voldemort is living in the forest.

It's been nearly two and a half weeks since we got rid of Norbert. I know that I told you I'd write as soon as we knew the plan, but so much has happened and I wanted to get it all in one entry. Luckily, I had Hermione put a Recuerdas Charm on me, which allows me to remember all the details of any conversation or event that I deem necessary for any length of time.

We got a letter from Charlie saying that he would be glad to take Norbert, but the problem was getting him there. He said that he had friends who were coming to visit him, but he was right in the fact that they couldn't be seen with Norbert either. He said to get the dragon up to the tallest tower at midnight last Saturday. We said that we could and sent Hedwig back with the response.

We had it all worked out. Harry got an invisibility cloak for Christmas, so we decided to put it to good use. Apparently, an anonymous person left it under the Christmas tree in the Gryffindor common room, leaving a note with it that said it had belonged to his father. Luckily, Harry realized that it's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert, so we decided that he and Hermione would go down to Hagrid's and take the Ridgeback up to the tower. I would stay in the common room and make sure that no one saw them sneak out of the tower.

Ron wanted a job as well, but Norbert bit him a few nights ago and he had to go to the hospital wing the next day. We were all afraid that Madam Pomfrey would be able to see that it was a dragon's bite, but thankfully, she never asks too many questions. When we went up to see him that afternoon, he was in a terrible state.

"It's not just my hand, although that feels like it's about to fall off," he told us. "Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me."

"Calm down Ron, it's not all that bad," I said, though even I didn't believe that.

"She's right," said Hermione, in a much more convincing tone. "It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday."

Ron sat bolt upright in bed and began to sweat. I couldn't understand it at first. That comment should have soothed him, not put him into more of a panicked state. But it was soon explained.

"I've just remembered," he said. "Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

I felt as though a raincloud was hovering over us and pouring nonstop. What could possibly be worse than Malfoy trying to foil our attempts to get rid of Norbert? He'd probably go to one of the professors and explain everything.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked.

"It's too late to change the plan," said Harry. "We're just going to have risk it."

"But even with the invisibility cloak, what if we get caught?" asked Hermione.

"Harry's right, we're just going to have to risk it," I said. "The invisibility cloak is our advantage. As long as you keep it over you at all times, no one will see you there, especially not Filch or anyone else who happens to show up."

All the same, I was worried sick when Saturday rolled around. That morning, I went for a walk down by the lake, running through the plan over and over again in my head, just to make sure we hadn't forgotten some crucial detail that might aid in Filch in finding us. But the more I thought through it, the more I realized that there was nothing more we could do. Just as long as Harry and Hermione didn't leave the cloak somewhere, everything should go according to planned.

I walked all the way across the grounds twice before I decided that there was nothing more I could do. I would just have to stay in the common room and make sure that it was all clear when Harry and Hermione put the cloak on.

I heard footsteps coming my way and voices accompanying them. Not wanting anyone to discover me there, and not wanting to be bombarded with questions when I was already in a vulnerable state, I dashed into the shelter of some nearby trees. All right yes, I was on the edge of the forest, but I wasn't deep enough in so that I'd be in any danger.

"Hey Ced, wasn't that your Gryffindor friend?" came a voice.

"It might have been, I didn't see the face," came Cedric's voice. I closed my eyes and prayed that they'd go away, and not think to look in the trees for me. All the same, I backed away as silently as I could, going deeper into the forest though still not too deep. I even climbed a few branches until I reached a spot where I was shaded by the leaves. There was an opening where I could clearly see them, but the leaves shielded me. Cedric was looking around for me, hoping maybe to have a talk. He and I haven't had much time to speak these last few weeks, and it's probably just as well. I don't know how much I'd be able to keep from him. I already told him all about the night of the duel, so if I was to just sit with him, I'd probably tell him everything that's happened. Not good at all.

"Leslie!" he called. "Leslie, can you hear me?"

I dearly wanted to answer him, but I stayed put. He looked disappointed when I didn't come out, but it only showed for a few seconds.

"So, what is your relationship with her actually?" asked his friend.

"What do you mean?" asked Cedric. "She's my friend."

"I've seen the way you look at her though. You have a crush on her."

"I do not," said Cedric, and though I was disappointed to hear it, I did see him blush a bit.

I waited until they were several meters away, going in a different direction than the castle entrance. I dropped out of my tree and started back, but as I was leaving the forest, I heard something strange. I heard a sort of slithering sound, as though some sort of material was being dragged against the ground. I also had the most unnerving feeling that someone or something was watching me. I sprinted as quickly as I could back up to the castle and I didn't stop until I had reached the portrait hole that housed the Gryffindor common room.

When I got back to my dormitory, I flopped down on my bed and took several minutes to catch my breath. I was beginning to see why the forest was forbidden. I'd hate to see what kinds of creatures live in that place; if most of them make unidentifiable noises, then I know I'm never going in there if I can avoid it.

I spent the entire day lying on my bed, trying to read or do homework or see if I could find something to take my mind off what we were about to do, but nothing worked. I eventually went to join Hermione in the library and see if she could help me begin studying for exams, but that didn't help either. Even she wasn't concentrating as much as she normally does. We just went back to the common room after awhile and sat on the sofa.

Dinner was the worst thing I've ever had to sit through. I was so nervous that I couldn't eat a single bite, and they had all my favorite dishes out too. It didn't help that I could feel a pair of eyes on me the entire time, and I knew exactly from which house table they were coming from. Even though I wasn't hungry, I made Harry and Hermione get enough to eat, they were the ones who needed the strength to get Norbert up to the tallest tower.

"How are you going to get through the night without a proper dinner?" I asked them.

"You should take your own advice," said Harry. "You're the one who has to stay on guard duty. You're never going to be able to concentrate on an empty stomach."

"He's right," said Hermione. "What would your uncle say if he saw you not eating?"

She had a point. Uncle Jerry would say it wasn't healthy not eating and would stand behind my chair, not budging until I ate every single bit of my meal.

"What if this all goes wrong?" I kept asking. "What if we all get caught?"

"Will you please quit saying that?" asked Harry. "We're not going to get caught."

"But what if we do?" I asked again. "What happens if Filch catches you?"

"Doing what, may I ask?" came a voice from directly behind me. I jumped and spun around in my seat to see who it was. I gave a sigh of relief to see Cedric and not one of the teachers.

"Cedric, what are you doing over here? Shouldn't you be with your friends?" I asked.

"You are my friend," he replied simply. "I noticed you weren't eating very much."

"Do you like spending your time spying on me?" I asked.

"It gives me a good study break," he joked, sitting down in the empty seat next to me.

"So what do you want then?" asked Harry, eyeing him with suspicion. We were both wondering the same thing: how much had he heard? Don't get me wrong, I trust Cedric with my life, but even I don't want him to know about this plan, or at least, not yet.

"I wanted to come over and see Leslie," he answered, giving Harry a jealous glare.

"Cedric, this really isn't a good time," I said.

"Why not?" he asked. "We've barely spoken in weeks, and now all of a sudden, I'm not welcome? You're hiding something Leslie."

The way he said it was more of a statement than a question, meaning he knew what he was saying was true.

"So what if I am?" I asked him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No!" I said, much more sharply than I'd intended. "Go back to the Hufflepuff table."

"But Leslie…"

"Please Cedric," and I was pleading with him now. "I'll explain everything to you as soon as I can, but right now, I'm in the middle of something really important. I'm sorry, I'm very sorry, but I can't tell you right now. Okay?"

He nodded and muttered, "okay," and walked back to his table with the most hurt expression I've ever seen on his face.

When we went back up to Gryffindor Tower that evening, I kept thinking about how much I had wanted to tell him everything. But I must have grown somewhat over the last few months, because it used to be that I'd tell him everything that was on my mind. I just hope he can forgive me for saying what I did.

The common room emptied out slowly but steadily that night, and surprisingly enough, when 11:15 rolled around, we were the only ones left, Harry, Hermione and I. Harry went up to his dormitory to get the invisibility cloak, and I watched as he and Hermione disappeared under it.

"Be careful, both of you," I said to the seemingly empty space in front of me.

"We will," said Hermione. It felt so weird talking to her and not being able to see her.

I took one last look around the tower to make sure that no one was watching and/or listening, then said quickly, "all right, off you go. You'd best hurry; you're going to be late."

After the portrait hole closed, I sat down on the sofa by the fire and tried to read, but I kept breaking off and staring into space. One of the windows gives a clear view of Hagrid's hut, and when I heard the clock strike 11:30, I went over and peered outside it. I could see Hagrid standing outside it with a large crate, which presumably contained Norbert. Even in the dark, it was hard to miss the giant shape that was Hagrid. I also saw two dark figures materialize out of thin air, making me breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness they got there all right," I muttered. "Now for the next step."

I saw Harry and Hermione disappear again, this time taking the crate with them. I tried to make out where they were on the grounds, looking for footprints or flattened grass, but it was too dark. I finally went back to the sofa and lied down on it, rubbing my neck all the while. It's been sore the last few days from me hunching over books. Over the next few minutes, my eyelids began to droop, and just as I was falling asleep, I heard the clock strike midnight.

The next thing I knew, someone had a hold of my shoulder and was shaking it gently. I opened my eyes to see Harry and Hermione standing above me, and to my surprise, Neville was with them.

"How did it go?" I asked them. "What's Neville doing here? What's wrong?" I had to ask that last question when I saw Harry's downcast expression and Hermione's puffy red eyes and tear-streaked face.

"What happened?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Filch caught us," said Harry simply. He then explained what had happened in McGonagall's office, occasional hiccups escaping Hermione's throat.

"I knew it, I knew this was going to happen," I said when he'd finished, getting up from the couch and going over to the window.

"Easy for you to say that now Leslie, you were the one who was so confident about it a few days ago," said Harry bitterly.

"I may have seemed confident, but believe me Harry, I was not," I snapped back.

"What's going on you guys?" asked Neville confusedly. "What was all this about a dragon? Was Professor McGonagall right when she said that you just wanted to get Malfoy into trouble?"

"Neville, what's happened is…" began Hermione, but I cut her off.

"What's happened is that everything has just gone from bad to worse," I said angrily to him. "We weren't trying to get Malfoy into trouble, we were just trying to get a job done. The problem is that we weren't supposed to get caught. And if we hadn't been, everything would be fine. But now, we've just lost Gryffindor 150 points, and you're a part of that. And that's my fault as well. I was supposed to make sure no one came into the common room, and in that I failed. Why didn't I see you leave the tower?"

"I waited until I saw you fall asleep Leslie," said Neville. "I knew you wouldn't let me leave while still awake. So I managed to slip out after you had drifted off. Filch caught me on my way to the tower."

"You should have just stayed here Neville," said Hermione gently.

"But I heard Malfoy talking and I thought he was going to get you in trouble."

"Well next time, keep your nose out of other people's business," I snapped at him, before walking up the staircase to my dormitory, Hermione close behind me.

I didn't say a word to anyone the next morning. Whenever Harry or Hermione tried to talk to me, I just gave them the cold shoulder. I was mad at them for leaving the invisibility cloak and I was mad at myself for letting Neville slip past me. That was such an inexcusable mistake, sleeping on the job. I'm going to have to start being more vigilant.

At breakfast that Sunday morning, I left before Harry and Hermione did, and I brushed past Ron in the entrance hall, who had finally gotten out of the hospital wing.

"What's going on Leslie?" he asked when he saw me. "Is Norbert gone?"

"Why don't you just ask Harry and Hermione what's happened?" I yelled at him.

I could tell he was confused and hurt by the way he looked at me, but I didn't care. I was working hard to fight back the tears now as I dashed past him and out of the castle. I ran across the grounds as fast as I could, and I didn't stop until I was safe under the shade of a grove of trees. Yes, I was back on the outskirts of the forest, but I was positive that nothing would hurt me if I didn't go in too far. I sat on the ground and tried to fight back the urge to cry as I realized just what my friends and I were slowly getting ourselves into.

"What we've been doing is dangerous," I said to myself. "McGonagall did say to Harry and Hermione that walking around the castle at night was dangerous, but I didn't think we'd ever get caught for it."

Then I remembered something Cedric said to me when I told him about Fluffy six months ago. He said, "_I don't like you sneaking around the corridors at night. Hogwarts is the best magical school in our world, but it's also very dangerous at night._"

"He was right," I said to myself. "You were right Cedric."

"I was right about what?" asked a voice. I jumped and looked up to see Cedric standing next to me.

"How did you find me here?" I asked, trying hurriedly to rub my eyes free of the tears that were threatening to spill down my cheeks.

He sat down next to me and said, "I saw you run out of the Great Hall and I heard what you said to Ron. I've never heard you raise your voice like that. Maybe it's time you told me what's going on Leslie."

"I can't," I said. "It's not my secret to tell. I don't want to cause any more trouble."

"Look at me," he said, gently tilting my face towards his. "I made a promise to you, do you remember? I said that if you preferred something stayed between us, then I wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone. Besides, you look like you're about to explode under the weight of whatever secret it is. Tell me."

Maybe I'm not as tough as I thought I was. Because that instant was when I knew I couldn't hold it all in any longer. I broke down and told him everything about Norbert and the plan we had hatched to get rid of him. I didn't tell him about the Stone though, meaning that he and I are probably going to have to one more conversation like this before the year is over. He held me the entire time, with one arm around my shoulders, the other around my waist, every so often rubbing my back. I still tried hard to keep the tears back, but a few still slipped down my face, but every time he saw one, he'd take his finger and wipe it away.

"I can't believe what a fool I was," I said. "My friends were counting on me and I let them down."

"Everyone makes mistakes Leslie," he said to me.

"But I shouldn't have made this one. It's inexcusable," I said. "I tried to make things better, and I've only ended up making things worse."

"You did everything you could," he reassured me. "Things go wrong all the time, even the best plans have ways of blowing up in your face. The point is to learn from your mistakes and not let them consume you. Look to the future, so that next time you and your friends sneak out of Gryffindor Tower, you won't get caught."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. He smiled at me and stood up, pulling me up with him. As we walked back to the castle, he brushed the last of my tears away from my face and said the most comforting things to me that I've ever heard. He walked me all the way back to the corridor outside the Gryffindor common room.

"Will you be all right from here?" he asked me.

"I'll be fine, thank you Cedric," I said.

He nodded at me and reached down to give me a hug before walked back to his own common room. I entered through the portrait hole and the first thing I saw was Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting in some nearby armchairs talking. Harry and Hermione had just gotten done explaining to Ron what had happened the previous night. They looked up at me as I came in and I stood hesitantly there for a moment before going over to them.

"Hi guys," I said nervously, and they all gave little murmurs of hello, obviously afraid that I was going to burst out at them again. I sat down next to Hermione and there was an awkward moment of silence before one of us finally broke the ice.

"Leslie, I just want to say…" began Harry, but I cut him off.

"No, please let me speak first Harry," and he nodded. "I'm sorry for what I said this morning and last night. There's no excuse for me losing my temper like that. I just felt that it was my fault, letting Neville slip past me and losing an extra 50 points. I should have been doing my job and I failed. I'm sorry I let you all down."

"You didn't let us down Leslie," said Harry. "It's just as much our fault for leaving the invisibility cloak on top of the tower."

"I can't believe we were so careless," said Hermione. "I'd normally never do a thing like that."

"I know you wouldn't," I said. "I'd normally never fall asleep on the job either."

"We just made mistakes," said Ron. "Next time, we know not to make them."

"_We_?" asked Hermione. "Did you just say we, including yourself? You didn't do anything Ron."

"But I was with you in spirit," he said, hoping to gain more brownie points.

"Knock it off you two," I said, before they could get into an argument. I've had to get into the habit of breaking them up, even after the incident with the troll.

"There's something we have to agree on," interjected Harry.

"What's that?" asked Hermione.

"No more poking around," said Harry. "We've gotten into enough trouble already. People are already starting to turn away from us because of last night. I don't know how the news leaked out, Malfoy told someone most likely, but we know that we don't have any business wandering the corridors now."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing," said Ron. "This doesn't sound like you."

"It's called guilt Ron," said Harry. "We've caused enough trouble already."

"But what about the Stone?" I asked. "What if Snape really is trying to steal it?"

"Then we go to Dumbledore and warn him," said Harry. "But we don't do anything."

"Harry, we can't just sit by and do nothing," said Hermione.

"She's right," I said. "If Snape knows how to get past all the defenses, then we're the only chance of protecting the Stone now. We can't just stand aside and let him steal it. We have to do something."

"But what do we do though?" asked Ron.

"We'll figure that out when we get there," said Harry, though he didn't look confident.

We've spent the last two weeks getting ready for exams. They start in just three weeks. It's kept all our minds off our guilt of losing 150 points for Gryffindor. But there's something interesting. Harry was on his way to meet the rest of the us in the library, when he stopped to listen to something in a nearby classroom. He saw Quirrell walk out of it, pale and shaking, and saw an open door on the other end. It seems that he finally gave in and told Snape how to get past his enchantment protecting the Stone.

When he told us about it, we were all ready to do something about it.

"Snape's done it then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell…"

"There's still Fluffy though," said Hermione.

"Maybe Snape's found a way to get past him without asking Hagrid," suggested Ron.

"If he has, then we're good as done for," I said. "All that work will be for nothing."

"What do we do Harry?" asked Ron.

"Go to Dumbledore," said Hermione. "That's what we should have done ages ago."

"But we've got no proof," said Harry, and he continued to list off the reasons why they wouldn't believe us.

"But there has to be something we can do," I said. "Surely we can convince Dumbledore that we're telling the truth. He's the greatest and wisest wizard in the world, surely he can sort out the lies from the truth."

"Snape could put some kind of spell on him though," said Hermione. "I've read all about Confundus charms and how they work."

"Is there anything you haven't read about Hermione?" asked Ron.

"For you information," she began, but Harry cut her off.

"Enough, all of you!" he snapped, and his tone made it quite clear that the conversation was over. We all stopped and went back to studying for exams, but none of us could concentrate. Our thoughts were with Fluffy and the Stone, endangered even though it was behind all those enchantments.

And then tonight, Harry, Hermione and Neville had their detention for sneaking out of the tower. They just got back about an hour ago. They went down to the entrance hall while Ron and I sat by the fire to wait for them. We'd both fallen asleep by the time they got back, and this time, there was no need to berate myself for it.

This time, I woke to find Hermione frantically shaking me, Harry doing the same to Ron. The look on her face told me that something big had gone down during detention and that I had to hear about whatever it was.

"Wait 'til you hear this," said Harry, once both Ron and I were awake. He explained that three of them, along with Malfoy, had had to go into the forest and help Hagrid track down a unicorn that had been hurt by something. There was unicorn blood all over the place, showing that it was in great pain. Harry and Malfoy found it first. What's worse was that there was someone huddled over it, drinking its blood. Malfoy and Hagrid's dog Fang ran away screaming. Harry stumbled backwards and fell. The creature advanced towards him and would have probably killed him were it not for the centaur that arrived at that moment. It took him back to the rest of the group and Hagrid brought them back to the castle.

"You mean You-know-who's out there right now in the forest?" said Hermione.

"But he's weak, he's living off the unicorns," said Harry. "Don't you see? We had it wrong. Snape doesn't want the stone for himself, he wants the Stone for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again, he'll…he'll come back."

"Stop saying the name!" said Ron.

"Harry, if Voldemort comes back, he won't try to kill you, will he?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"He probably would have tried to kill me tonight," replied Harry.

"Hold on a minute, we're forgetting one thing," said Hermione. "Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"

"Dumbledore of course," I answered her.

"Exactly," said Hermione. "As long as Dumbledore's around Harry, you're safe. You can't be touched."

He nodded, but he wasn't exactly confident about that either.

Everyone went up to bed a few minutes after that, but I came back down here to the common room and began writing this. There's one more thing. Remember I said to you that Harry and Hermione left the invisibility cloak on top of the tower? Well, Harry must have heard me come back down to the common room, because he reappeared at the top of the staircase that led to the boy's dormitory. He didn't say anything, he just held up a neatly folded bundle and even from down there, I could see that it was the invisibility cloak. I could tell from his expression that he didn't know either how it had gotten there. I just nodded at him and smiled, thinking the same thing as him, that it was good to have it back. He nodded back at me to say goodnight and went back into the dormitory.

Now as I sit here writing this, I feel more and more like I did that night we discovered Fluffy. Remember I said that night that I felt that we had shaken the edge of a web, and that the spider who had made it would eventually come after us? Well, that time is soon approaching. Voldemort and Snape are the spiders who have made that web, and we are the ones who are going to have to break it. They'll not get the Stone, not if we have anything to say about it. I think the incident tonight has refueled Harry's sense of justice. I know he's as determined to protect the Stone as I am. I know for a fact that that Stone will not fall into Voldemort's hands, not with Harry there to fight him off.

Good night little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, we have the detention over and we know that Voldemort's in the forest. And I've also revealed a side of Leslie that's more filled with angst and dread. She's always been one to think that when others are counting on her, she has to get the job done or she'll have completely let them down, even if they tell her otherwise. So, it takes some persuading from Harry, Ron and Hermione before she realizes that she hasn't let them down.

Now, the next chapter is going to take place the night Leslie gets home for the summer vacation. It'll have everything that happened in the last two weeks of term in it, the hunt for the Stone, the encounter between Harry and Quirrell, a conversation with Cedric, and her reunited with her uncle for the summer. Don't expect this one to come too quickly. Between my work and the other stuff I've got going, it'll probably take me a couple weeks to get the next chapter out. Stay tuned!


	13. May 15th, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, this is the last chapter in the segment about the Sorcerer's Stone before we move on to Chamber of Secrets. It's going to take a long time to write this story, but I'm willing to get it done if you guys are willing to read it. Also, please post more comments. I really enjoy reading them and this story has barely any. Think of a couple reviews while you read the chapter. Enjoy!

05-15-02

Dear Diary,

Guess where I am now. I'm at home, in my own room, in my own bed. I can hear Uncle Jerry downstairs still working. He stays up much too late for his own good. I know he's just trying to support me, but he needs to rest, otherwise he'll just crash. And when that happens, it won't be pretty.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. So much has happened in the last few weeks. Exams are over, the Stone has been destroyed and Voldemort has been thwarted yet again. Harry really is amazing, the way he was able to stand up to his foe. I wish I could have been there to see it, but I know that wouldn't have been a good idea. It's all so incredible, the whole story.

To start with, the next few weeks after the detention in the Forbidden Forest were spent studying for exams. We knew that Snape wasn't about to do anything with Dumbledore there, and we still had no proof that he knew how to get past Fluffy. But still we worried, or at least Harry and I did. Ron and Hermione concentrated more on passing their classes, but I could barely focus on my studying. It's a miracle that I managed to get through.

Last week was the end of our exams, so went outside to the lake to try and relax a bit. As we reached the banks of the water, I saw Cedric with a bunch of his Hufflepuff friends. He saw us and nodded encouragingly at me before turning back to his friends.

"I wish I knew what this _means_!" Harry burst out suddenly, and I turned my head to look at him. "My scar keeps hurting – it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Perhaps you should see the nurse," suggested Ron.

"No," said Harry adamantly. "I think it's a warning. It means danger's coming."

"What kind of danger?" I asked him. He glared at me. "All right, that was a stupid question," I muttered. "But what is there we can do about it?"

"I'm not sure but…" Harry trailed off. A look of comprehension was beginning to spread across his face. He'd mentioned already that he believed there was something we'd forgotten, which Hermione had said was due to exams. But he didn't believe that and neither did I. And by the looks of things, he was beginning to realize what it was. He suddenly jumped up and ran over to Hagrid's hut, the three of us running to keep up.

"Harry, what's going on?" I asked him.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have one?" asked Harry. "I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pocket. Why didn't I see it before?" He sprinted the rest of the way to Hagrid's hut and when he got there, he said, "Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg? What did he look like?"

"I don't know," said Hagrid. "I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

And on a side note, you know you can never trust someone who won't show you his face. I can't believe that Hagrid had a talk and played cards with this man, but then, the man did keep buying him drinks, which I suppose made Hagrid a little less careful about what he said and did. Scratch that, I shouldn't say _less careful_, I should say _downright careless_! The evening culminated in Hagrid winning the egg, and telling the stranger how to get past Fluffy. Then, he said it to us.

"Just play him a bit of music and he'll fall straight asleep," he said, as though it were nothing. The rest of us just looked at him, shocked and scared. "I shouldn'ta told you that," he added, not realizing the gravity of the situation.

The four of us ran all the way back to the castle, not stopping until we were in the entrance hall. Thankfully there was no one around.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak."

"But we have no proof," said Hermione. "You said it yourself Harry, there's no reason for Dumbledore to believe us."

"Let's just hope he will, and that Snape hasn't hexed him," said Ron.

"Please don't say that Ron," I said. "If it's likely to happen, then it probably will."

"What are you four doing inside?" came the sharp voice of Professor McGonagall. She was coming down the staircase, carrying a pile of books.

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore immediately," said Harry hurriedly.

"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here," she said. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left for London ten minutes ago."

"He's gone? _Now_?" asked Harry frantically. "But this is important! This is about the Sorcerer's Stone!"

Professor McGonagall certainly hadn't been expecting him to say that. She dropped the books she was carrying and stormed down the stairs toward us, anger and confusion written all over her face.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Someone's going to try and steal it," said Harry.

"It's true Professor," I said. "Someone has found out how to steal it, we're sure of it."

"I don't know how you found out about the Stone," she said. "But I assure you, it's perfectly well protected." She then picked up her books and walked away, a little more stiffly than she had been a few minutes ago.

We started back for the common room, talking about the Stone all the while.

"It's tonight. Snape's got everything he needs and with Dumbledore gone, he'll be able to get the Stone without interruption."

"But what can we…" began Hermione, but she gasped when she saw who was behind us. The rest of us spun around to see who it was. I gasped as well and Harry and Ron each went pale. Snape was standing there, a sneer on his face.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Now what would three young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside on a day like this?" Hermione began to stutter a response, but he interrupted her with, "you'll want to be careful. People will think you're up to something."

Once he was out of earshot, Hermione asked, "now what do we do?"

We all knew at once what Harry was going to say. "We go down the trapdoor tonight."

We walked back to the common room together, but when we got there, Ron let out a gasp. "We've forgotten something," he said.

"What?" asked Harry, obviously not in the mood for hearing this.

"The invisibility cloak," said Ron. "We may have it back, but how are we _all_ going to get to the third-floor corridor?

"_All_?" asked Harry.

"We're not letting you go alone Harry," said Hermione. "We're coming too."

"But then we'll all be expelled," said Harry.

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Saving this school and its students from Voldemort is more important than being expelled."

"But that's where we have a problem," said Ron, a worried expression on his face. "The cloak isn't big enough to cover all four of us, and there isn't going to be time for three of us to go down to the corridor, then one come back and get the last. One of us is going to have to stay behind."

Hermione gasped again. She wasn't sure she could stand the thought of someone staying behind. It seemed natural that the four of us all do this together. I made up my mind right then and there to tell them a secret.

"Wait here," I said. "There's something you guys need to know." I went up to the girl's dormitory and opened the trunk at the foot of my bed. One thing I've never told anyone, not even you little diary, is that directly after the Sorting Ceremony on our first night at Hogwarts, I was going through my trunk looking for something, and I found a package from Uncle Jerry. There was a note attached to it. It read:

_Dear Leslie,_

_I used to use this all the time when I was your age at Hogwarts. Technically, it wasn't mine, it was your father's, but we shared it all the time whenever we wanted to go down to the kitchens and get a midnight snack. Use it well and responsibly. Just don't let me here that you've gotten caught sneaking out and using it. Be careful my darling._

_Love,_

_ Uncle Jerry_

I didn't open the package that night because I was too tired. Over the next few months I forgot about it, but then, when Harry got the anonymous package over Christmas, I was reminded of it. Then, remember I told you that after the detention, Harry showed me he'd gotten the invisibility cloak back? Well, I was reminded of the package again and how it was buried under all my clothes, right at the bottom of my trunk. I picked it up and felt it. It was soft, as though there was some other article of clothing in it. I carefully untied the string around it and pulled away the paper. Sitting in my lap was another invisibility cloak. I gasped as I saw it. I would be able to sneak around the school at night on my own, without having to borrow Harry's cloak. I could do anything I wanted.

I've kept the cloak buried under all my school robes for this last month; I haven't had much cause to use it. But I knew I'd have to use it that night. I dug through my trunk until I'd found it, then I took it back down to the common room. Harry, Ron and Hermione were still there waiting for me.

"What's going on Leslie?" asked Harry, but he stopped when he saw what I was holding.

"Bloody hell," said Ron. "Where did you get that?"

"It's been in my trunk all year," I said, and I explained to them how I'd gotten it.

"So, you've had that cloak since September and you haven't known about it?" asked Hermione and I nodded.

"This is perfect," said Harry. "Ron and I can use my cloak, and you two girls can use that one. We'll all be able to get down to the forbidden corridor."

"Now the next question is how are we going to lull Fluffy to sleep?" I asked.

"Hagrid gave me a flute for Christmas," replied Harry. "Hopefully I can play it."

"Then nothing's stopping us from going down that trapdoor," said Ron.

"We're going to get to that Stone," said Hermione.

"And we won't let Snape get his filthy hands on it," said Harry.

The rest of that day was spent preparing for what we were planning to do later. During dinner, the four of us tried to eat, but we could barely swallow; we were that nervous. Once again, I could feel a pair of eyes watching me, and I didn't have to look up to see whom they belonged to. Knowing Cedric was watching me made me think of how he hadn't spoken a word to me, and how after tonight I might never see him again. If things went wrongly that night, then the Stone would fall into the wrong hands, and the four of us would die trying to get it away from Voldemort.

"See you back in the common room," I said, getting up and leaving the hall before the others could ask what was wrong. I ran halfway back to the common room before I had to stop to catch my breath. Normally I would've been able to run all the way back to the common room, but that night, the emotion was too much and I wasn't able to make it back before it washed over me. I was breathing extremely hard, trying with all my might to keep the tears back, but they were on the verge of spilling down my face, and I knew it was a lost cause.

"Leslie?" asked a voice, making me turn around. Cedric had followed me from the Great Hall, the look of worry on his face greater than I'd ever seen it. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Just seeing him made the tears spill from my eyes. He cupped my face in his hands and wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

"I'm sorry," I said. "Cedric, please listen to me. If I don't see you again, I want you to know…I need you to know that I'm sorry for all the secrets. I wish I could tell you but I can't."

"Leslie, what are you talking about?" he asked, glaring at me warily. "What do you mean by, 'if I don't see you again'? You make it sound like you're going to die tonight."

I wanted to say dearly that I might very well die that night, but all I said was, "I'm sorry," before reaching up and giving him a farewell hug, before starting back for the common room.

"Leslie wait!" he yelled, easily catching up with me and grabbing my arm. His expression had gone from worry to unbridled fear. "That's it, no more secrets. You have to tell me what's going on. Why are you saying you might die tonight?"

"Because there's a strong chance that I will," I said, trying to wrench my arm out of his grip. But he wouldn't let me go.

"You're not going to…" he trailed off, but I knew what he was going to say. He was afraid I was going to do something to myself.

"No, it's nothing like that," I said. "All you need to know is that my friends and I are going to be in danger tonight. I can't tell you more than that, and you can't tell anyone else. Now let me go."

"No," he said firmly. "Not until you explain everything."

"Let me go," I repeated.

"No," he said, even more sternly.

"I'm sorry for this Cedric," I said again, but I was apologizing for a completely different reason. Very quickly, I stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the ribs, making him double over in pain, enabling me to wrench my arm out of his grasp and run. I could hear him trying to give chase behind me, but I was too far ahead and he wasn't able to run quickly because of his foot. I managed to reach the common room before he could get his second wind. After I caught my breath, I sat down by the window and looked out into the gathering dark. I stayed there until even after the others had come in. We sat and waited for the common room to empty out, then finally, we were the only ones left. Harry and I went up to our dormitories and got our two invisibility cloaks, then came back downstairs.

"Is everyone ready?" asked Harry. We all nodded, though I was still trying to push Cedric's frightened face out of my mind.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice from the staircase. Neville was standing there. It looked as though he was getting Trevor, who had tried to make a nighttime escape. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?"

"No Neville, listen," said Harry. "We were just…"

"No!" interrupted Neville. "I won't let you. You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again. I'll…I'll fight you."

"Neville, this is ridiculous," I said sternly. "We have to go and you're not going to stop us."

"Yes I am," he said, raising his fists. "I'm not letting you out of that portrait hole."

"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this," said Hermione, pulling out her wand. "_Petrificus Totalus_!" Neville went rigid and stiff as a board, then fell to the ground, unable to move. We moved past him, all muttering sorry, then went out the portrait hole. Thankfully, no one was in sight and Harry and Ron got under one cloak, while Hermione and I put the other one on.

It was slow moving down to the forbidden corridor. We had to make sure that no one would see our feet walking across the floor and we had to stop in front of every corner to make sure that no members of the faculty were waiting for someone to sneak around it. Thankfully, we reached the corridor without interruption.

"_Alohamora_," whispered Hermione, opening the door to the corridor.

We entered the corridor to see Fluffy pacing back and forth, growling darkly. There was a harp sitting against one of the walls, showing that Snape had already been there. We had to hurry.

I heard the sound of a flute begin to play and I looked over to watch Harry playing it before I realized that he was still invisible. I turned my attention back to Fluffy and saw that he was beginning to look sleepy. Just as he was about to totter over and go to sleep, Harry took a step forward and tripped. The flute fell out of his hands as he fell to the ground, away from the cloak.

Fluffy was starting to wake again. We could all tell he was surprised to see Harry there and was wondering how he'd gotten there.

"Now what do we do?" Hermione whispered frantically.

"Cover me," I said. I took the cloak off as well and slipped into shadows before Fluffy could see me. Silently, I crept over to the harp. It was a good thing that Fluffy hadn't touched it. Once I reached it, I looked over to see if Harry was all right. He was having to dodge Fluffy's three heads, but was having a very bad time of it. Ron and Hermione had taken the cloaks off by this point and were trying to cast spells to distract the dog, but it wasn't working.

"I hope I haven't gotten rusty," I muttered to myself. I reached for the harp, placed my fingers on the correct cords and began to play. Fluffy instantly stopped moving. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look at me, all with shocked expressions. I just kept playing and after a few notes, I began to sing.

_Chuaigh mé chun aonaigh is dhíol mé mo bhó  
Ar chúig phunta airgid is ar ghiní bhuí óir  
Má ólaim an t-airgead is má bhronnaim an t-ór  
Ó cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó_

_Má théim 'na choille chraobhaigh cruinniú smeara nó cró  
A bhaint úllaí de ghéaga nó a bhuachailleacht bó  
Má shíním seal uaire faoi chrann a dhéanamh só  
Ó cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó_

_Má théimse chuig airnéal is rince is spórt  
Chuig aonach is rásaí 's gach cruinniú den tsórt  
Má chím daoine súgach is má bhím súgach leo  
Ó cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó_

_Deir daoine go bhfuil mé gan rath 's gan dóigh  
Gan earra gan éadach gan bólacht ná stór  
Má tá mise sásta mó chónaí i gcró  
Ó cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó_

The dog began to sway during the first verse, and it wasn't until the second one that he actually fell to the ground asleep. That brought the others back to life. They'd all been staring at me with wide eyes.

"I didn't know Leslie could play the harp," said Harry.

"Neither did I," said Ron.

"It's supposed to be a really difficult instrument to play," said Hermione. "She's really good actually, and she can sing."

I had to jerk my head towards Fluffy to remind them to get to the trapdoor, but they didn't take the hint until he fell asleep. Things got worse when one of his paws fell on the trapdoor. They had to move his paw before they could open the trapdoor.

Harry swung his legs down the hole and said, "if anything happens, don't follow me. Send an owl to Dumbledore, all right?" He then fell through the trapdoor and called back up that it was safe. Ron and Hermione fell down the trapdoor just as I reached the last line of the song. I poised myself so that I'd be able to run.

"I have to hit this note just right," I muttered. I touched the last cord, pulled it back a bit and let go so that the note vibrated a bit around the room, which would keep Fluffy asleep for a few extra seconds and give me enough time to get to the trapdoor. The sound stopped just as I reached the trapdoor, just as Fluffy began to rouse himself. I heard him bark, but I had already jumped. I landed next to Ron with a soft thump.

"What is this stuff?" asked Ron.

"Don't know," said Harry. "Lucky it's here really."

He'd spoken too soon. Just then, the plant began to move. It snaked itself around us, binding our arms and legs, making it harder to move and breathe with every passing second. We struggled to get away, but the more we fought, the faster it wrapped around us.

"Stop moving all three of you," said Hermione. "This is Devil's Snare, you have to relax. If you don't, it'll only kill you faster."

"Kill us faster, now I can relax," said Ron. Hermione gave him a nervous glance before disappearing under the plant.

"Hermione!" we all yelled.

"Now what do we do?" asked Ron.

"Just relax!" we heard Hermione call up to us.

"Hermione, where are you?" asked Harry.

"Do what I say, trust me," she called back.

Harry and I glanced at each other and began to take deep steadying breaths. Slowly, the plant began to pull us down as well. We heard Ron shouting out our names, but it was too late. The plant let us go and we landed on the stone floor next to Hermione. Ron was screaming for help above us.

"We have to help him," I said. "That is not relaxation he's showing up there."

"I remember reading something in Herbology," said Hermione. "Devil's Snare, Devi's Snare, its deadly fun…but will sulk in the sun! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight! _Lumos Solem_!"

A bright beam of sunlight burst out of her wand, causing the plant to creep away from us and let go of Ron. He fell to the ground, then got up saying it was a good thing we didn't panic, including himself. Hermione and I rolled our eyes at each other and we started for the next room.

As we walked, Harry turned around and asked me, "so where did you learn to play the harp and sing like that?"

"I went to a private girl's school in London before I came here," I replied. "I had a music lesson everyday while I was there, and when I expressed interest in the harp, one of the teachers gave me a private lesson every day."

"What language were you singing in?" asked Hermione. "I've never heard it."

"It's Gaelic, the language of the people who once inhabited Ireland," I replied. "Their language has been dead for centuries, but some songs still exist, and I learned how to play a few of them. That one is called, 'Cad e sin don te sin,' which literally translates into 'since it's no one's concern, no one should care,' or in other words, mind your own business."

"Why did you choose to sing it?" asked Ron.

"Mind your own business is a slogan that I've spent most of my living under," I replied. "Since I met you guys, I've used it less and less. I thought I'd play it for old time's sake, then give up those old beliefs all together."

Hermione was about to reply, but we reached the next room at that moment. It was filled with strange looking birds, which Harry pointed out were keys, one of which fit the door on the other side of the room. It was obvious that he had to use one of the old brooms sitting there to grab one of the keys. He spotted the one we wanted instantly, the silver one with the broken wing. But for some reason, he was hesitant to get on the broom.

"It's too simple," he remarked.

"Go on Harry," said Ron. "If Snape could catch it on that old broomstick, you can. You're the youngest Seeker in a century."

Harry nodded and grabbed the broom. The instant he did, the keys swarmed around him and began to attack him. He quickly caught the one we needed, grabbed it and passed it down to Hermione, who unlocked the door. We all gathered inside and Harry flew in before the keys could get any further.

"That was close," said Ron, and I rolled my eyes again.

The next room was a bit like a graveyard at first. But the torches lit themselves and we found ourselves in the middle of a gigantic chessboard. We had to play our way to get across. Ron told us to take the places of a few of the chess pieces and we waited for the other side, the white pieces, to make the first move.

"Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like real wizard's chess, do you?" asked Hermione.

Ron thought a minute, then pointed at a pawn and said, "you there, D-4!"

The pawn moved as ordered, and when it stopped, the opposing piece took out a sword and smashed it to bits, knocking it off the board.

Ron gulped and said, "yes Hermione, I think this is gonna be exactly like wizard's chess." Harry looked up at Ron as if to ask whether or not he was joking while Hermione and I exchanged frightened looks.

Ron acted as if he was a general the entire time, ordering the pieces to various spots on the board. After the Queen had destroyed several of our pieces, Ron realized what he had to do. He made his move, then the Queen took him as well.

"Ron!" Harry shouted. Hermione began to move towards him, but Harry shouted at her, "no, don't move! Don't forget, we're still playing!" Hermione nodded and stayed put. Harry walked forward, stood in front of the King and said, "Checkmate!" The king dropped his sword to show that we had won, and the three of us ran over to see if Ron was all right. He was still breathing, it just looked as though he'd hit his head pretty hard.

"All right, Leslie, you stay here with Ron, Hermione you come ahead with me," said Harry. "Leslie, when Ron wakes up, take him back to the school. I saw a couple extra brooms in the flying key room, they should be enough to get you past Fluffy. Then send an owl to Dumbledore." I nodded, knowing that Ibbett would be able to reach him in no time. I watched as Harry and Hermione walked through the door, then I knelt next to Ron and tried to revive him.

About twenty minutes later, Hermione came back and told me what had happened. She and Harry had gotten stuck in a room with a bunch of potion bottles, and they had to find the right one in order to get through to the next room. She had to drink one to get back to Ron and I.

"So Harry's gone on alone?" I asked her. She nodded.

Ron began to wake at that moment and after we were sure he was all right, we went back the way we'd come. We were a little hesitant at the flying key room, but the keys didn't try and attack us. I opened the other door and we grabbed the brooms and began to fly. We got past the keys, past the Devil's Snare and began to go back up the trapdoor towards Fluffy. We could hear him growling above us. I took a deep breath and began to sing the Gartan Mother's Lullaby, a song that I can also play on the harp. We heard Fluffy fall asleep and we were able to fly into the room he was in, grab the two invisibility cloaks and leave the forbidden corridor.

"What's happened?" came a voice from behind us. Professor Dumbledore was standing there, a look of deep fear on his face.

"Professor, how did you get here so quickly?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice.

"Your friend Mr. Diggory sent me an owl saying there was trouble and that I needed to come back," replied the professor. "He was very distressed, saying that you believed you were going to die tonight Miss Angkatell, and that's when I realized that the Stone as well as you were in danger."

I was so surprised that Cedric had helped us that I barely heard Hermione explain to Dumbledore what was going on. He just told us to go up to the hospital wing, before dashing into the forbidden corridor to help Harry.

We did as he said and went up to the hospital wing to find Madam Pomfrey waiting for us. She bandaged up the few cuts that Hermione and I had, and she healed Ron in a second. We waited there for Dumbledore to reappear with Harry, and about a half an hour later, he entered the hospital wing, an unconscious Harry drifting in front of him. Hermione and I each screamed and ran to see if he was all right. Madam Pomfrey made us leave and go back to our dormitories while she tended to Harry.

He woke up about three days later and we went to see him soon afterward. He told us everything that had happened. Snape hadn't been the one after the Stone, it was Quirrell all along. And he was actually concealing Voldemort under the turban he was always wearing. Harry explained how he'd managed to get the Stone and how he'd fought Quirrell for it. He then explained the conversation he'd had with Dumbledore after he'd woken up, and I breathed a sigh of relief to hear that the Stone had been destroyed.

"At least everything worked out for the better," he said.

"At least you're all right," I said, smiling down at him, and he smiled back at me.

Madam Pomfrey came up at that moment saying that we'd had enough time to chat and made us leave. Hermione retreated to the sanctity of the library, saying that she just needed some books to relax and Ron decided to go and see if someone in the common room wanted to play chess. Defeating Professor McGonagall's giant chess set has really turned him into a professional chess player.

I decided I wanted some fresh air and was about to make my way down to the lake, when my ears perked up at a sound. There were quick footsteps approaching behind me, and the next instant, I felt someone grab my arm. It was Cedric.

"I've been searching for you for three days!" he said angrily to me, beginning to drag me down the corridor towards the abandoned classroom where we'd had several discussions earlier in the year. "You're coming with me right now!" I tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let me go.

"Cedric, let go!" I said to him. "You're hurting me, stop it!"

He loosened his grip a bit, but didn't stop walking. We arrived outside the classroom and he pulled me inside before shutting and locking the door. I didn't like where this was going.

"What the hell were you thinking!" he yelled at me, making me cringe away from him a bit. "When I found out what had happened down in the forbidden corridor, I thought I was going to have a heart attack! Leslie, you could have been killed! You knew that corridor was forbidden, what prompted you to go down there?"

I just backed away from him at a loss for words. No one had ever yelled at me like that before, not even Uncle Jerry.

"We had to," I finally croaked out. "We tried to warn Professor McGonagall that someone would try to steal the Stone, but she wouldn't believe us. We knew then and there that if no one was going to help us, then we'd just have to go in on our own." I walked over to the window and stared outside it. "I dearly wanted to tell you, but it wasn't my secret to tell."

He came up behind me and I felt him gently place his hands on my shoulders. He turned me around to face him and said, "look at me." I didn't.

"Leslie, look at me," he said again, placing a finger under my chin and tilting my head up. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

"Were you that frightened?" I asked.

"Frightened?" he asked. "Are you kidding? I was terrified. When you told me you and your friends were in danger, I didn't know what to think. Finally, I pulled myself together enough to send my owl to Dumbledore, and tell him what you'd said. Then the next morning, he told the school at breakfast what'd happened, and I all could think of was what condition you might be in. I went up to the hospital wing immediately after that and I asked if you were there, but Madam Pomfrey said that you were back in your dormitory and were perfectly all right. It didn't stop my worries though."

"Cedric, I think I've told you once before that you needn't worry about me."

"And I think I replied to that that I'll always worry about you. I meant it when I said that I'd rather drink poison than hear something's happened to you." He suddenly pulled me into his arms and gave me a bone-crushing hug, which surprised me, but I wrapped my arms around him in turn and closed my eyes. I could feel him shaking and his voice quivered as he said, "I thought I'd never see you again."

I pulled away from him and said, "don't be so dramatic. As you can see, I'm fine."

He chuckled and said, "that's your favorite phrase isn't it? I'm fine."

"Yes, I suppose it is," I replied.

"Now, do you want to explain everything to me or am I going to have to get it from one of your friends?" he asked. We sat down and I told him everything that I hadn't told him already, everything about the Stone and the enchantments around it.

"So Quirrell was the one all along," said Cedric, after I'd finished. "I'd never have thought it."

"Neither did we," I replied. "We were so sure it was Snape."

"I almost wish it had been," said Cedric. "Then we'd all be less likely to get tortured in potions."

I smiled, then asked him, "there, are you satisfied?"

"Almost," he said. "Next time you go wandering around the school at night, just promise me you won't get yourself killed," he said.

"I have no intention of getting myself killed," I whispered to him. I reached up and gave him a small kiss on the cheek before standing up and heading for the door. I looked back at him and saw that he had his hand on the spot where I'd kissed him, looking as though something unbelievable had just happened. "I can take care of myself," I said to him, before leaving the room.

The rest of the week passed with us trying to recover from the whole ordeal. We got our exam grades back and it turns out we all passed everything, which was good news to report to my uncle.

Last night, after getting most of our things packed, we went down to the end of year feast together. Dumbledore then stood up to announce that Slytherin had won the House Cup with a grand total of 472 points. Because of our escapade with trying to get rid of Norbert, Gryffindor had finished in dead last.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done Slytherin, however, recent events must be taken into account," said Dumbledore. "First, to Miss Leslie Angkatell, for the best harp accompaniment ever to be heard in the walls of this castle, 50 points." There was a loud round of applause from the rest of the table. Several people patted me on the back and when I looked over to the next table, Cedric was applauding me and smiling proudly at me.

"Second, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of intellect when others were in grave peril, 50 points." More applause.

"Third to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years, fifty points." There was yet more applause.

"And fourth, to Mr. Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor House 60 points." The din was enormous. People were standing and applauding all over the table for the four of us.

"We tied with Slytherin," said Hermione.

"And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends," said Dumbledore. "I award ten points to Neville Longbottom."

Every single person at the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables stood up, screaming and cheering and threw their wizard's hats into the air. Gryffindor had won the House Cup! I glanced over at the Slytherin table and the horrified looks on their faces made our victory that much more enjoyable.

Today, Hermione and I finished getting the last of our things together, then went down to join Harry and Ron for breakfast before leaving. They helped us carry our luggage downstairs, even though they had luggage of their own and we made our way outside, where there were carriages waiting to take us down to the Hogwarts Express. We spent the ride back to King's Cross with our fellow Gryffindor's, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, Parvati and Lavendar. Cedric and a few of his friends came in for a moment as well and congratulated us. He winked at me as he left and I knew I would be getting a bunch of letters from him this summer.

When we got to London, the first thing I saw upon getting out of the train was Uncle Jerry standing there, a broad grin on his face. I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug I'd ever given him.

"Hello my darling," he said. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too Uncle," I said.

"I'll get your luggage, you go say goodbye to your friends," he said, heading towards the compartment we had just vacated. I walked back over to Harry, Ron and Hermione and we exchanged our goodbyes.

"You must come and stay this summer, all three of you," said Ron.

"That'd be wonderful," I said, and Hermione nodded beside me.

"It'll be good to get away from the Muggle world for awhile," she added.

"I'll need something to look forward to," said Harry, and I could tell he wasn't looking forward to going back to his aunt and uncle. We walked out of the gateway together and said our last goodbyes.

I told Uncle Jerry everything that had happened over dinner and he shook his head as he realized the trouble I had gotten myself into.

"Your father and I found plenty of use for that invisibility cloak as well," he said. "But I didn't think you'd use it to help defeat one of the greatest dark wizards of the age."

"If I'd opened it at the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have thought so either."

"Just be careful next time you use it, all right dear?"

"I will Uncle Jerry, I will."

I came up to my room a couple hours later, and here I am now, writing these last few words. It feels so strange to be home, but I'll get used to it after a day or so. I've missed it here greatly. I can just now hear Uncle Jerry come upstairs and enter his room. At least he'll be able to get some rest before work tomorrow. I can't wait to spend plenty of time with him over the summer. And best of all, I can't wait to see my friends again.

Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, that's the next chapter done, and I think it was my best yet. But of course, that's just my opinion, you guys have to decide for yourselves. I hope you enjoyed it.

Now, the next chapter is going to take place either in Diagon Alley or when the four of them already arrive back at Hogwarts. I'm not sure which one yet, but I'll think about it. I haven't quite decided where I want the story to go from here. If you have any suggestions on what I should do next, please tell me. Stay tuned!


	14. September 1st, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, we have officially moved on to _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_. It's going to be so much fun writing about different topics. We're going to have Leslie's opinion on all the gossip about Harry being the Heir of Slytherin, the Polyjuice Potion, all that good stuff. But first, we have to the intro to _Chamber of Secrets_, and that's in Diagon Alley. Happy reading!

09-01-02

Dear Diary,

Dinner, Muggles, a house elf, Diagon Alley, an absolute imbecile named Gilderoy Lockhart, and a flying car, that's what's started off our second year at Hogwarts. I'm back in our old dormitory, well, technically, I'm in the common room, sitting by the fire. Everyone else has long since gone to bed. It does feel good to be back here, though I am already a bit homesick. That'll pass though.

First off, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I love living with Muggles! I spent most of the summer with Uncle Jerry, but during the last two weeks of the vacation, he had to go to France on a business trip. He was there for three weeks, getting back just in time to see me on the train back to Hogwarts. Before he left, we spent most days together. He still had to work late most of the time, but he'd take the weekends off and take me to the park or to the theatre or a concert. He's never done that before. I mean, I know he loves me, but he's never been able to spend much time with me. When I got back to London for the summer though, he had changed. It was a surprising change, but I liked it all the same.

One night, when he took me out to dinner, I asked him, "what brought on the pleasant change Uncle Jerry?"

"What are you taking about my dear?" he asked, taking a nervous bite of his salad.

"You've never taken such pains to be with me before," I said. "It's nice."

"What, I'm not allowed to spend time with my favorite niece?" he asked playfully.

"I'm your only niece," I said, just as playfully.

"I know," he said. "And I just want to spend more time with you, that's all."

He was cut off as the waitress brought our meals to us, and he used that opportunity to change the subject. Later that night, I lay in bed and thought about it, and I decided that he'd missed me too much while I was away at school. I'm the only family he has left now, and he's all I have as well. He's gone over our family tree and we don't even have any distant relatives now. We're all that's left of this family.

And one thing I know about him is that he hates being alone. I keep telling him he should find a wife, settle down and have children of his own, but he keeps saying that isn't what he wants. He's never found anyone that he was really in love with, which is a shame. He lived in Southampton Cove with my parents, because he couldn't take living in London by himself, and Father just didn't have the heart to say no. I think he just wants to spend as much time with me as he can, before he has to say goodbye to me again. What keeps us both going is the fact that I'll be home in just a few short months, and with all the work that we both have to do, they will fly by quickly.

Another night, he surprised me by saying that he was having guests over for dinner and that he needed me to cook something good. I normally do all the cooking anyway, he's not that good at it, but I wondered why he was telling me on such short notice. While he was at work, I went over my mother's old recipes and decided on fettuccini alfredo with a salad appetizer and a pound cake for desert. I spent the entire day in the kitchen, and only when the salad was tossed, the cake in the oven, the pasta made, and the table set, did I go up and get dressed for dinner.

It never takes me very long to get ready when Uncle Jerry has company over. Most of his friends are some of the more upper class of the wizarding society, so I make myself look nice, but not too done up. I inherited the attitude my parents had that I don't want it brooded about that I can afford all the best clothes and jewelry. I just put on a nice khaki skirt, a red silk, sleeveless blouse, and a pair of white flats, brushed my hair and teeth, and put on a pair of gold earrings. I adjusted my locket around my neck and gave myself one good look in the mirror to make sure I was satisfied. Uncle Jerry gave up giving me necklaces several years ago; he knows I won't wear any of them but that locket.

I went back downstairs, made sure the dining room table was set all right, lit the candles in the middle, placed the salad on one end of the table, the bowl of fettuccini on the other, and got myself a glass of ice water. The cake still had some time before it was done, so I sat down at the breakfast nook in the kitchen and waited for Uncle Jerry to get home.

It actually took longer than I thought it would for him and his guests to arrive. He told me dinner was to be at 7:00, but it was 7:15 before they got there. Luckily Uncle Jerry had put a spell on the bowls I would be using, so that the food stayed warm until after everyone had eaten it. I took the cake out of the oven and was sprinkling powdered sugar on it, when I heard the sound of people coming in through the fireplace. I've never liked travelling by the Floo Network, too dusty and messy for my taste, and you get a lot of soot and ash in your mouth, but it's a very quick way to travel.

I heard voices in the sitting room, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. A couple of them sounded familiar. I just stayed in the kitchen, put the finishing touches on the cake, and set it out to cool on the counter.

"Leslie!" called my uncle.

"In here," I called back. "Dinner's ready."

I heard the sounds of footsteps coming into the kitchen, and I turned around to greet our guests. I gave Uncle Jerry a quick kiss on the cheek and looked past him to see who was there. I was surprised.

"Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, it's so good to see you," I said, walking forward to shake hands with them.

"It's good to see you too Leslie," said Mr. Diggory, smiling at me.

"Look how much you've grown," said Mrs. Diggory. "You look just like your mother, dear. Cedric has told us so much about you and your first year at Hogwarts."

"Where is…" I began, but I was cut off by Cedric walking into the room, grinning broadly at me. "Cedric!" I said happily. He laughed as I threw my arms around him and he wrapped his around me just as tightly.

"Hello Leslie," he whispered into my ear, making a shiver run down my spine. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," I whispered back.

"If you two are quite through over there, I'd like something to eat," said Mr. Diggory.

"Amos," said Mrs. Diggory sharply, but she was smiling at him all the same.

"Something smells good," said my uncle. "What did you make for us, my dear?"

"You'll see when we sit down," I said. "What can I get everyone to drink?"

Uncle Jerry and I poured drinks for everyone, and we all went to the dining room together. I thought I'd have to keep Cedric from ambushing the cake still on the counter. He was eyeing it like a lion hunting its prey.

"Don't even think about it," I said. "You still have two courses to go through before dessert." He gave me a pouting look, but I just glared at him and jerked my head towards the dining room. When they saw what I had prepared for them, the Diggory's kept saying that I shouldn't have gone to so much trouble.

"It was no trouble at all," I said. Cedric held my chair out for me, and I smiled gratefully at him before sitting down and allowing him to scoot me up closer to the table. As we ate, we talked all about the previous year at Hogwarts, mostly about my classes and my friends. They didn't mention the Stone, though I think Cedric decided it was better not to bring it up. We sat at table and talked for a little while after the main course was finished, then I asked if everyone was ready for dessert. I think Cedric had been waiting the entire evening for me to ask that. And as I brought the cake back into the dining room and began slicing it into pieces for everyone, I glanced over at him and saw that it was taking every ounce of self-control he had not to eat it all. I smiled at him and shook my head, which was my way of telling him to calm down a bit. Deciding I would make him suffer just a bit, I served the first piece to my uncle, then to Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, before finally giving him a piece, then cutting one for myself. The look on his face as I was serving everyone but him was absolutely priceless.

We had only made it through half of the cake before everyone was full. Uncle Jerry went into the sitting room with the Diggory's to talk, while Cedric and I went out into the backyard. We sat down on the swing on the back porch and looked up at the stars.

"You do realize you were torturing me in there," he said. "I thought you'd give me the first piece of cake."

"If I'd done that, it would've been gone before everyone else got their share," I said.

"And the problem with that is?" he asked, and I laughed at him. He placed his arm around my shoulders and I gave a small intake of breath. He continued, "Seriously, the entire meal was delicious. Tell me you weren't slaving over a hot stove all day to make it though."

"Most of the day at least," I said. "Don't worry, I enjoy cooking."

"You shouldn't have made all that," he said. "But I'm glad you did all the same."

I laughed again. "So how's your summer been?" I asked him.

"Boring," he said simply. "I finished all my homework early on, and now, I have nothing to do. I've been going into London most days, going for walks in Regent's Park, just to get away from the boredom."

"It sounds like you're ready to get back to Hogwarts," I said, and he nodded. "Well, I'm not."

"Why not?" he asked me. "Aren't you excited to see your friends again, to see me all the time?"

"Of course I am," I said, gently taking hold of the hand that was around me. "But I'm not ready to say goodbye to my uncle. "We've been spending so much time together these last few weeks. He needs me Cedric, I'm not sure he can take care of himself."

"He'll manage," said Cedric, and I nodded. "But if you suspect there's anything wrong, you just tell me and I'll ask my dad to keep an eye on him."

"Just like you spent last year keeping an eye on me?" I asked, and he blushed. "That's what Uncle Jerry said the day we left, isn't it? He was asking you to watch over me, wasn't he?"

"Watch over you and if the situation warranted it, protect you," said Cedric.

"When would the situation have warranted that?" I asked.

"If you had told me about the Stone sooner, I'd have offered to go down that trapdoor with you, and I'd have protected you from any danger that was down there. You wouldn't have gotten hurt that night, not if I'd been there."

"First off, I wasn't hurt much, only a few cuts and scratches," I said. "Second, I couldn't have asked you to risk your neck as well. You have your whole life in front of you Cedric."

"So do you," he whispered back, brushing a stray lock of hair out of my face. I couldn't help but blush as he did that, and as I looked up into those beautiful, chocolate brown eyes of his, I realized that there was nothing I wanted more than to be with him. The way he was looking at me told me that he wanted the same thing.

Our moment was interrupted though when we heard Mr. Diggory calling us to come in. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind of the thoughts that were flying through it. I was imagining things. Cedric could get any girl in the entire wizarding world, and probably in the Muggle world as well, why should he choose me? Besides, I shouldn't be feeling any of these things, I'm only 12 for God's sake. It's just a crush, it'll pass as we get older. But as Cedric stood up to go back in and held out his hand to help me up, I have to admit I doubted that thought sincerely.

It turns out that we had been called in because the evening was over. I shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Diggory and said how glad I was that they'd been able to come. Then, while they were saying their final goodbyes to Uncle Jerry, I reached up and gave Cedric a hug.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts," I said.

"Looking forward to it," he said back, and before either of his parents or my uncle could see, he gave me a small kiss on the cheek, in exactly the same spot where I'd kissed him a few weeks before. I looked up at him surprised, but he just smiled and winked at me before going to stand with his parents, and leaving for their home through the fireplace.

When August came, Uncle Jerry announced that he had to go to France for a business trip and he asked if I wanted to come along. I said yes, and he contacted some friends in Paris who offered to let us stay with them. I learnt to speak French before I came to Hogwarts, so I had no problem in communicating while I was there.

I had a wonderful time, shopping and sightseeing, but by that point, I was also starting to get worried. Ibbett had had a busy summer sending owls back and forth between Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cedric and I. Hermione and I wrote to each other every week, Cedric and I almost as often. Ron only responded intermittently, which I expected, but what I didn't expect was that Harry didn't return any of my notes. When I wrote to Ron and Hermione about it, they said he hadn't responded to any of their letters either. Yet whenever I sent Ibbett with a letter to Harry, he always came back with nothing, making me at least hope that Harry had gotten my letter. I expected him to send a response back with Ibbett, or if he didn't have time to write one then, he'd send one later with Hedwig. But he did neither.

I tried to enjoy myself the entire time I was in France, but it was hard, not knowing what kind of condition Harry might be in. Finally, Uncle Jerry came to me and asked me if I wanted to go home.

"Will you be all right here on your own?" were the first words out of my mouth.

"I will," he said. "But this business is taking longer than I thought it would, and it looks like I'm going to be here for another three weeks." I stared at him; at the end of those three weeks was when school would be starting back. He continued, "so, I'm sending you home with my Gringott's vault key so that you can go to Diagon Alley and get your school supplies. I want you to see if you can stay with one of your friends until it's time for term to start."

My school letter had arrived in Paris a week before, and I was sure Hermione wouldn't mind if I stayed with her for awhile, but I didn't want to leave Uncle Jerry.

Sensing this, he said, "don't worry Leslie, I'll be back in time to see you off. Now, why don't you go see if one of your friends will let you stay with them?" I nodded and sent Ibbett off with a letter to Hermione, but I didn't feel comfortable just leaving my uncle in Paris. I told you, he doesn't do well on his own, and I know he misses me, but he had our Parisian friends to look after him, so I just took for granted it'd be all right.

Ibbett came back the next day with Hermione's answer, saying that she'd be glad to have me stay with her for the rest of the summer. I told her I'd be there at the end of the week and spent as much time with Uncle Jerry as I could. When it was time to return to England, I said goodbye to our friends and to Uncle Jerry, fighting the urge to cry.

"See you soon Uncle," I said.

"Goodbye my dear," he said to me, and I took Floo Powder back to our house. I got the rest of the things I needed from my room, and when I got outside, Hermione and her parents were standing there waiting for me. I smiled and ran down the garden path, opened the gate and hugged my best friend so tightly that she told me to stop so that she could breathe.

The Granger's were so kind to me. Hermione showed me to my room while Mr. Granger carried my luggage upstairs for me, everyone saying to make myself at home. I think Mrs. Granger was a little nervous about having me in the house, which I didn't know how to react to, but Hermione reassured me later on when we were alone.

"Don't worry Leslie," she said, while helping me to unpack my clothes. "Both my parents were more than a little shocked when I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. They're still getting used to it now, so when I asked them if I could have you over to stay, they were nervous about having another witch in the house as well. They'll lighten up once they get to know you though."

"I hope so," I said. "I've been doing things the Muggle way for most of my life anyway. I can easily fit in here, at least I think I can."

"You'll be fine," said Hermione, smiling at me.

"Have you been to Diagon Alley yet?" I asked.

"No, I only got my letter a few days ago," she replied. "I was waiting for you to get back from France so we could go together. It should be better than last year. When we went to Diagon Alley for the first time, Mom and Dad just stood by and let me do all the work, get my books, get my robes, everything. That's why I'm trying to arrange for us to meet up with Harry and Ron."

"Speaking of Harry, have you heard from him at all?" I asked.

"No, and I'm starting to get so worried about him," said Hermione.

"So am I," I said. "It's just not like him to not return any of our letters. What does Ron have to say on the subject?"

"He's getting fed up with the whole thing," said Hermione. "He, Fred and George are planning some way to go and get him, but I don't know what they're going to do. It's probably better not to ask."

"You're probably right," I said. "I hope he's all right."

"We both do," she said quietly.

That afternoon, we got a delivery from the Weasley's owl, Errol. That poor bird, he looks as though even the shortest flight to the nearest house would finish him off. He's so old and tired, it took him the rest of that day to recover so we could send a response back.

When he got there, Hermione feverishly tore open the envelope and read the letter aloud to me. It read:

_Dear Hermione,_

_That does it. Harry hasn't responded to any of my letters, so Fred, George and I are going to Surrey and we're going to get him ourselves. That's going to involve getting our dad's car and flying it all the way to London._

And here, Hermione paused and looked up at me. "Did he say they're going to fly a car to London?" she asked me.

"That's what it sounded like," I replied. "Keep reading."

_Dad bewitched an old Muggle car so that it would fly, and Fred and George have driven it loads of times without any problems, so we're going to take it ourselves and we'll have Harry at our place before the night is over._

_Write back with what you think, then tell Leslie to write me back as well. I don't have time to send Errol to her now, we're going to get Harry tonight. I'll let you know how it turns out._

_See you at Diagon Alley sometime soon._

_Ron_

We desperately wanted to write an answer to that letter, but one look at Errol told us that we'd have to wait until the morning. He was sound asleep on the kitchen table, exhausted just from carrying a single letter. I gently picked him up and carried him upstairs to my room and thankfully, Ibbett was willing to share his cage. I could tell he wasn't happy about it though.

"I'm sorry about this, my friend," I said, stroking his beautiful plumage. "But I need him to wake up and send a letter back to his owner, and he needs rest first. Don't worry, you're still my main owl." And he seemed glad to hear that.

We sent Errol back the next morning, after he'd had a chance to recover. Hermione wrote that I was staying with her, that we both hoped everything had gone all right, and also said that we were going to Diagon Alley that next Wednesday if they wanted to meet us there.

When Wednesday came, Hermione and I went to Diagon Alley together while Mr. and Mrs. Granger stayed at home. Since there was another witch there, they were sure that Hermione and I could go shopping together, just as long as we promised to be safe on the bus that would take us to Charring Cross Road and back. When we got to the Leaky Cauldron, I used my wand to open the brick passageway and we stepped onto the cobblestone path that was Diagon Alley. We looked in a few shop windows, but didn't go inside anyplace. We decided to wait at the top of the steps of Gringott's and keep an eye out for Harry and Ron.

It wasn't long before we saw Hagrid cutting a path through the crowd, Harry running to keep up with him. One look at Harry told me he'd had a bad Floo Powder incident. He was covered in soot, his glasses were broken and his hair was more disheveled than it usually is. I smiled and shook my head as Hermione and I ran down the steps to meet them.

"Harry! Hagrid!" she called out to them.

"Hello Hermione, Leslie," said Hagrid to us.

We both gave Harry a huge hug and I said to him, "we've been so worried about you. Why didn't you return any of our letters? Every time I sent Ibbett out, he came back with nothing."

"I'll explain later," said Harry. "Right now, we need to find the Weasley's."

"Yeh won't have long ter wait," said Hagrid, pointing down the alley. We turned to look where he was pointing and there were the Weasley's dashing towards us, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looking absolutely frantic, while the children were just thankful to see that Harry was all right.

"Harry thank goodness," said Mr. Weasley. "We hoped you'd only gone one grate too far."

"Where did you come out?" asked Ron.

"Knockturn Alley," said Harry.

"_Excellent_!" said Fred and George. "We've never been allowed in."

"I hope not," I said. "Anyone that goes into that place is just asking for trouble. No offense Hagrid," I added when I realized that Hagrid had been done there. But I'm sure he had a good reason.

"None taken," he said smiling kindly before saying goodbye.

We all went into Gringott's together, Harry explaining about seeing Lucius Malfoy and Draco in one of the shops, Borgin and Burkes. That shop in particular has a nasty reputation. It sells all these trinkets that have been used for centuries by all kinds of dark wizards, thieves, spies, murderers, every dark object under the sun can be found in that place. When Mr. Weasley asked if Mr. Malfoy had bought anything, Harry said no and that he was selling, and Mr. Weasley looked triumphant at that. Now all he needs to do is raid Mr. Malfoy's home and find out just what he's hiding in that large manor.

We got our money from Gringott's, after convincing Hermione that I'd be paying for her supplies and we all went to peruse the shops. Mrs. Weasley wanted us all to meet at Flourish and Blott's in an hour's time to meet this famous wizard, Gilderoy Lockhart. I've heard of him, but I've never read any of his books. From what I've read in _The Daily Prophet_, he sounds like just another conceited idiot with delusions of grandeur, but almost every other witch in the wizarding world is in love with him, so I guess I'll just have to see if my theory is correct or not.

Harry bought us all ice creams and we sat down outside the ice cream parlor while he explained to Hermione and I why he hadn't returned any of our letters.

"A house elf?" I asked when he had finished. "Why should a house elf appear in Surrey? There aren't any other wizards in your area as far as I know."

"That's what I was wondering," said Harry. "He wouldn't tell me who his master was. All he said was that there was a plot to make terrible deeds happen and that I couldn't go back to Hogwarts. I told him I was going back anyway, and he destroyed a pudding my aunt had made, which in turn led to them locking me in my room and putting bars on my window."

"Whose do you think it was, the elf?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," said Harry, but he desperately wanted to know and so did I.

We bought some of our supplies and then met up at the bookshop with the rest of the group. Mrs. Weasley was fussing over the state of her robes and her hair, while waiting for the line to move. When we got to the front of the line, we saw the wizard that was Gilderoy Lockhart, and personally, I didn't think there was anything that spectacular about him. To be honest, I thought he was absolutely repulsive. He wasn't very handsome, had the toothiest, most irritating smile I've ever seen and kept complimenting every single witch as though he'd known them for years. He was also saying how wonderful it was to be famous. He was being so disgustingly pleasant, I thought I was going to be sick. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against being pleasant, but he was really laying on it too thick.

It gets even better. He saw Harry standing in the crowd, pulled him forward so that they were standing next to each other, and insisted that the photographer take a photo.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "What an extraordinary moment this is! When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blott's today to purchase my autobiography, _Magical Me_…" He stopped here so that the people could applaud. "He had no idea that he'd be leaving with my entire collected works, free of charge. He and his schoolmates will soon in fact be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure to announce that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

If I thought I was going to be sick before, it was nothing like I was feeling at that moment. Ron was turning slightly green too, as though he was having to fight back his breakfast. I dearly wanted to say to him, "go ahead and be sick. I'll tell everyone I put a hex on you just for fun. No one will know that it was your fault." But I didn't. His mother would've died of embarrassment, and when my uncle heard about it, he'd have been really angry with me.

Hermione, on the other hand, she was lapping up everything that idiot was saying. When he announced he was going to be our new teacher, she applauded and cheered, and I looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"Hermione, you don't actually like this rubbish he's spewing at us, do you?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? What rubbish?" she asked. "He's wonderful!"

I placed one hand on my face in defeat and sighed. I learned months ago when to quit arguing with Hermione, 'cause once she has her mind set on an opinion, it's all but impossible to change it.

We went back to the front of the store, where we met the Malfoy father and son. Draco was making fun of Harry for this little scene, and made fun of us as well for trying to defend him. Lucius Malfoy introduced himself to Harry, making a comment about his scar. Then he noticed Hermione was there.

"You must be Miss Granger," he said. "Yes, Draco's told us all about you and your parents. Muggles, aren't they?"

I wanted to strangle him for that. The look in his eye and the way he said it told me clearly that he was disgusted to be in the presence of a Muggleborn. He's always believed that Pureblood wizards are better than everyone else, and he hates Muggleborns. I hate him for just thinking that way.

"Miss Angkatell," he said nodding to me.

"Good day Mr. Malfoy," I said curtly, nodding back at him. He doesn't like me either, because I have more money than he does, and because when I inherit said money, I'll have higher status. It's not just that he doesn't like being the second wealthiest person in England, he's upset that a _woman_ will surpass him in wealth and status. He'd like it if it were my uncle who'd have the fortune, that way he wouldn't have to put up with a woman in power. I hate that!

He then proceeded to comment on the Weasley's and that's when Mr. Weasley stepped in.

"Busy time at the Ministry, Arthur, all those extra raids," he said. He picked up a book out of Ginny's cauldron. "I do hope they're paying you overtime. But by the looks of this I'd say not. What's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard, if they don't even pay you well for it?"

"We have a very different idea about what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," said Mr. Weasley.

"Clearly, associating with Muggles, and I thought your family could sink no lower." He placed the book back into Ginny's cauldron, and for a moment, I thought I saw him put something else in there as well, but my attention was distracted by him speaking again. He and Draco left and we tried to go back to our shopping, but we were distracted for the rest of the afternoon.

The next two weeks were spent in comfort. Hermione and I went shopping together, went for walks in the park, read our new books for the beginning of term (I still couldn't believe we had to read all the Lockhart books) and got ready to go back to school.

The Granger's took us to King's Cross that day, and when we got there, I smiled to see Uncle Jerry standing at the entrance waiting for us. I ran to him and he gave me a large hug.

"How was Paris?" I asked as we all walked in together.

"It was wonderful," he said. "I got my business done yesterday. Good thing too, I was afraid I wouldn't be back in time to see you off." We got to the barrier that was the entrance to Platform 9¾, I said thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Granger and Hermione, Uncle Jerry and I got on the platform. He loaded our luggage into the overhead racks for us and we got on the train, leaning out the window to say goodbye. Further down the platform, I could see the Weasley's, but I couldn't see Harry and Ron. The train began to move at that moment and I leaned a little further out to wave goodbye to Uncle Jerry. He disapparated just as the train turned the corner, and I sat back down with Hermione.

The train ride itself was uneventful. We chatted for awhile, ate snacks from the trolley, then Cedric and some of his Hufflepuff friends came in and sat with us. They were actually very nice this time, not like my last train ride to Hogwarts. One even got into a fight with Hermione over the use of some kind of charm. I just watched them and laughed along with the others. Cedric sat by me the whole time, his arm around my shoulders all the while.

When we got to Hogwarts, we all got off the train and made our way up to a set of carriages that were waiting to take us up to the castle. They were being pulled by some kind of creature that I still don't know how to describe.

"What are those?" I asked, pulling the carriage.

"There's nothing there Leslie," said Hermione. "It's pulling itself."

"No it isn't," I said. "There's some kind of animal pulling it."

"It's called a thestral," said one of Cedric's friends. "The only people that can see it are people that have seen death."

"Oh," I said, not sure how to respond to that. She looked like she didn't want to press the issue further and neither did I. I thought back to the night my parents died, and I realized that I had watched Elena die. She had been carrying me when Bellatrix Lestrange killed her, and in my nightmares, I remember seeing her scared face, seeing the life just drain right out of it. I gave an involuntary shudder, then I felt Cedric's arm around me tighten.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yes I'm fine," I said, though I could tell he didn't believe me.

We made it up to the castle and went to our respective house tables. Harry and Ron weren't there, which worried Hermione and I a bit. Later we started hearing some ridiculous rumors about how they had driven Mr. Weasley's flying car here and had crashed into the Whomping Willow on the grounds. Neither of us wanted to believe that, but as soon as dinner was over we hurried up to the common room to look for them. When we found they weren't there, we started dashing all over the castle looking for them.

"Where are they?" asked Hermione, as we walked back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I don't know but…" I was cut off when I saw Harry and Ron standing in front of the portrait hole trying to figure out what the password might be. We sprinted towards them and asked what was going on.

"Someone said that you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car," said Hermione.

"Well, we haven't been expelled," said Harry reassuringly.

"You're not saying you _did_ fly here?" I asked them.

"Skip the lecture and tell us the new password," said Ron testily.

"It's 'wattlebird' but that's not the point," started Hermione, but she was cut off by the portrait hole swinging open and the whole of Gryffindor House bursting into applause. Arms pulled Harry and Ron into the common room while Hermione and I scrambled in from behind. Those two were getting all sorts of praise, while us two looked on, shaking our heads in shame and disbelief. Finally, we just went up to our dormitory, then I waited for the common room to clear out so I could come back down and write this.

It is good to be back. I miss home and I miss Uncle Jerry, but it is good to be back. The homesickness will pass after a few days. Once I get back into the swing of things around here, I'll forget how much I miss London. I can't wait to start my lessons. I also can't wait to see how much Glideroy Lockhart is going to make a fool of himself, because it's obvious to me that's what's going to happen. He isn't competent enough to be a teacher, I don't think he's competent enough for much of anything. But I'll just have to wait and see. Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, we have the scene in Diagon Alley, the train ride to Hogwarts and a basic account of Leslie's summer. I just had to throw in that scene between her and Cedric and the dinner with his family, I couldn't help myself. I don't know just how much is going to be in the next chapter. I might go ahead and skip to the Deathday party, I just don't know. If you'd like, give me suggestions about where you think I should pick up. Stay tuned!


	15. September 26th, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, this is going to take place a couple weeks later, we're going to have the slugs incident and before that, a little scene between Leslie and the others. A quick note: if you're a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart, don't read this chapter! All I'm going to do is majorly bash him.

**Disclaimer:** All of the events in this chapter, except for the scene between Leslie and her friends before DADA, come from Chapters 6 and 7 from _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_. I own none of the events actually written in the books. Happy reading!

09-26-2002

Dear Diary,

I was right, Gilderoy Lockhart is a complete idiot. What kind of person unleashes Cornish pixies inside a classroom? And if that weren't enough, Malfoy has crossed the line this time. He called Hermione a Mudblood! I wanted so badly to strangle him when I heard him say that. And wait until you hear what Ron did.

Let's start at the beginning. Harry and Ron have had a bit of fun relishing the fame they got with the flying car incident, while Hermione and I ignored them as best we could. After the Howler from Mrs. Weasley though, we started being polite again. That was really humiliating for both boys. I'd write down what it said, but that wouldn't be very polite, though it's not like either of them are ever going to read what's in these pages.

But then, Lockhart had to add insult to injury by stopping us as we were walking into Herbology that first morning. Professor Sprout was walking down from the Whomping Willow, which had several branches in slings, and Lockhart was right behind her.

"Harry!" he called. "I've been wanting a word. You don't mind if he's a couple of minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?"

She minded all right, all the teachers do, but Lockhart still pulled Harry away. I mouthed, "good luck" to him as I walked inside and he nodded his thanks. I tried to concentrate on what Professor Sprout was saying, but I was more interested in what was happening outside.

"What do you think that idiot is saying to Harry?" I whispered to Hermione.

She had to work hard not to scream at me for that. "He's not an idiot!" she whispered fiercely to me.

"Yeah he is Hermione," interjected Ron. "And from what I can see, Leslie's the only _girl_ in this school with enough sense to see that."

I smiled at that and was about to say something else, but Harry came in at that moment. The look on his face told me that he didn't agree with whatever it was Lockhart had said to him. He refused to say what it was at the time. That night when I tried to get him to tell it to me in confidence, he still wouldn't say it. I guess it was so embarrassing that he couldn't bring himself to recount it. I can't say I blame him. I wouldn't believe a word that comes out of that creep's poisoned mouth.

We didn't have much time to talk during that lesson, for the reason that we all had to wear earmuffs. We were working with Mandrakes, which can kill you if your ears are exposed to their wailings. But because they can cure someone who's been petrified, Professor Sprout keeps a patch of them around. Why do I get the very bad feeling that we're going to need them before this year is over?

By the time of our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year, Harry was already trying to avoid Lockhart, Ron was mumbling about how he couldn't cast even a simple spell with his broken wand, Hermione was showering devotions of praise and love on Lockhart's character, and I was trying to keep the peace between all of us. Harry, Ron and I still didn't see what was so great about Lockhart, and it looked as though half the student body was beginning to see that as well, the _male_ half. None of the boys had anything good to say about him, but all the girls thought he was wonderful.

"I wish people would stop talking about him like he's a bloody god," I said as we walked towards the DADA classroom.

"What exactly is it that you have against him Leslie?" asked Hermione curiously.

"I don't know exactly," I answered truthfully. "Something about him makes my hair stand on end, which is always a sign to me that you can't trust a person. Besides, haven't you learned by now Hermione that I'm a very good judge of character?"

"You could be wrong about him you know," she said.

"I could be, but I don't think I am. When it comes to people, I'm usually not."

"She has a point Hermione," said Harry. "There's something strange about him."

"Personally, I don't think you can trust anyone who goes around claiming how perfect he is and how he owes it all to his fans," said Ron. "He thinks fame is the greatest thing in the world."

"You wouldn't believe how much of a burden it actually is," said Harry.

"Believe me Harry, I know where you're coming from," I said. He smiled at me and placed a grateful arm around my shoulders. I tried hard not to imagine Cedric's face if he saw us now.

"Stop it all three of you!" said Hermione angrily, stopping in the middle of the corridor and turning around to face us. "Ron, you're just jealous because you haven't done all the wonderful things he's done. Harry, you're just embarrassed because of what he said to you the other day, whatever that was and you, Leslie, you're just upset because someone else is getting all the attention instead of you and Harry. You want to be the most famous person in the school, parading around the fact that you have a large sum of money just waiting for you to inherit it!"

"How dare you!" I shouted at her, making several people turn around to look at us. "You think I like being famous and having people ogling at me? Do you think Harry enjoys it? Do you actually think I _want_ that _filthy_ money? I'd rather be starving and living on the streets than touch one cent of that inheritance!"

I turned around and ran as fast as I could out of that corridor, but not before seeing the shocked looks on every single face there, including those of Harry, Ron and Hermione. I ran as fast as I could to the one place I knew I could find solace: the old classroom where Cedric and I would go to talk. I went inside and locked the door, then curled up in a corner and began crying. I didn't care if I missed the lesson, I didn't want to get anywhere near that miserable excuse for a man.

There was a knock at the door, but I ignored it. I was in such a state, I didn't hear the sound of the door being unlocked with magic, nor the very quiet footsteps of someone walking towards me. I felt them sit down next to me, but still I ignored them.

"Penny for your thoughts," said a voice as a strong arm came around my shoulders.

"Hello Cedric," I said, looking up into the eyes of the one who at this point seemed to be my only friend. "I assume you saw our little floorshow."

"Yeah, me and all the rest of the school," said Cedric and I groaned at that. "I know you don't like even thinking about your inheritance, but it isn't a bit much to say that you'd rather be poor, starving and homeless?"

"It isn't if it's true," I said. "Cedric, I know no one believes it, but I meant it. I also meant what I said to you last year. The reason why I don't like being reminded of my fortune is because my parents and my sister are all dead. If I had the option of giving it all away, I would. If I had the option of trading it all in to get my family back, I would. I'm colossally dreading my 21st birthday, and in a sense, I'm even dreading my wedding day."

"That doesn't make any sense to me," said Cedric. "Your wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of your life. Why should you dread that?"

"Because of the family laws of inheritance," I said.

"Your family still has laws of inheritance?"

I nodded. "If I get married before I turn 21, I'll inherit then. I don't know which I'm dreading more."

"Dread your birthday," suggested Cedric. "21 is still a young age to be married."

"You're right," I replied.

"Now, I know you don't think your money is a blessing, but one day I think you'll think differently. I know you miss your family, but someday, you're going to have to accept it and move on. It seems you've spent most of your life brooding about what happened to you all those years ago, but you can't let it rule you forever. You have to let it go."

"I don't know."

"I'll help you. I'll always be there for you."

I looked up at him and I could see the truth of it in his eyes. "Thank you Cedric," I said gratefully. He nodded at me, giving me that smile of his that made me go weak at the knees every time.

There was a silence for a few moments, then he said, "I saw you were about to go into Defense Against the Dark Arts. Aren't you upset you didn't get to sit in on of Lockhart's classes?"

"Absolutely not," I replied sharply. "That man is a complete bonehead, he doesn't know anything."

I heard Cedric give a huge sigh of relief and I turned to look curiously at him. "Finally, I've found a girl with common sense! I didn't think there were any girls around here that didn't think Lockhart was perfect. Leslie, you're wonderful!"

I smiled at that. "I just don't see what's so great about him, that's all."

"It's more than that. I heard what you were saying to your friends." I flinched as I realized not only had he been eavesdropping, but he had also seen Harry put his arm around me. I didn't want him to get the wrong idea, Harry and I are just friends, or at least I think we are.

He continued, "is it really a burden being famous?"

I nodded. "It really is. You have people constantly eyeing you and whispering around you. Not only that, people are always asking for your autograph, lining up just to ask questions about your accomplishments. 'What's it like to be the only person to have survived Voldemort's curse?' in Harry's case. Sorry," I said quickly when I saw Cedric flinch. "Then in my case, people ask, 'what's it like knowing you'll be the richest woman in England in nine years?' I hate that Cedric, I just wish I could be a normal girl for one day."

"I'm sorry Leslie, I didn't realize this would make you so miserable."

"It's all right. You do so much just by sitting here with me and speaking with me Cedric. Thank you."

He pulled me into a hug and we sat in silence for a few minutes. Then I pulled away and said, "all right, I have to ask, have you been to one of Lockhart's lessons?" He nodded. "So, is he just as much of a numbskull as I think he is?"

"It depends, how much of a numbskull do you think he is?"

"Uh…I think if you took the stupidest person in the world and doubled that, then you'd have Lockhart."

"Double it again and you'd have Lockhart," said Cedric, and I looked at him in surprise.

"He can't be that stupid," I said.

"He is, he actually brought Cornish pixies into the room and let them loose." I burst out laughing at that comment. "What's so funny?"

"He calls Cornish pixies dark and dangerous creatures?" I asked. "They're tricky and mischievous certainly, but they aren't going to destroy the human species, are they?"

"No, but they'll rip apart anything they can get their little claws on," said Cedric. "It only took a minute for me and my friend Thomas to get them. We knew a few spells that got them all back in their cage. Everyone else had hidden under desks. We spent the rest of that lesson cleaning up the surprisingly enormous mess they'd made in such a short amount of time. By the end of the lesson, everyone was angry at him."

"I'll have to talk to Harry and Ron later and find out if he did the same thing."

"And Hermione?"

I hesitated. "I'll need to talk with her in private. Do you really think she meant what she said?"

"I'm sure she didn't," said Cedric. "I think she's so wrapped up in Lockhart that she forgot who her real friends are. I think it took her yelling at you like that to remember it. I think you'll be back to being best friends by this evening."

"You really think so?" He nodded.

"It's getting late, would you like to come with me to dinner?"

"Yes," I said. We walked down to the Great Hall together and said goodbye as we entered. People already seated whispered and stared at me, but I just held my head high and walked past them as if it didn't bother me and after what Cedric had said to me, it really didn't. I sat down next to Harry and Ron and began to pile some food on my plate.

"Are you all right Leslie?" asked Harry.

"Of course, why shouldn't I be?"

Ron nearly choked on his bite of chicken. Once he'd gotten his breath back, he said, "Leslie, you were so angry I thought steam was going to come out of your ears after what Hermione said, now you're saying you're all right?"

"Yes," I replied. "I had some time to think and a friend of mine came in and spoke with me." I saw them exchanged puzzled looks, they didn't know of any other friends besides them. I decided to not tell them of my friendship with Cedric at that moment. "Where is Hermione?"

"She's in the library," said Harry. "She didn't want to come down to dinner."

"That's not like her," I said. "She didn't want to talk to me, did she?" Harry and Ron shook their heads. "Don't worry, I'll speak with her later." A moment of silence and then I asked them, "how was Lockhart's class?"

"It was complete rubbish," said Ron. "He unleashed a cage full of Cornish pixies on us and said that we had to get them back in their cage. They made a complete mess of the whole class. One of them took his wand and threw it out the window. Two more grabbed Neville and hung him from the chandelier. The rest of the class ran out the door, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle in the lead."

"Believe me, you didn't miss anything," said Harry. I laughed at Lockhart's stupidity. He was just lucky that the same thing didn't happen when he did the same thing with Cedric's class.

After the meal was over, I grabbed some food, wrapped it in my napkin and began to walk up to the library. I was planning to wait outside the library for Hermione, considering I couldn't bring food inside it, Madam Pince would've had a hissy fit. But Hermione came out just as I got there. She gasped and seemed like she wanted to dart back inside, but she stood her ground. I stopped in front of her and held out the little bundle of food.

"Peace offering," I said. "You didn't come down to dinner."

She took it and muttered, "thanks."

There was a moment of silence, then we both burst out with, "I'm sorry."

We laughed, then I said, "I'll go first. I'm sorry I burst out at you like that. You didn't deserve me ranting about how much I don't want my family's money."

"I didn't know you felt that strongly about it Leslie," said Hermione.

"I have my reasons," I said. I realized that Cedric was the only person that I'd told about my hatred for my fame and my loathing for my money. I said to her, "it's because it reminds me of dead parents and sister."

"You have a sister?" she asked me incredulously.

I realized that just how little I'd told my three friends. Cedric really is the only one I've confided in, which seems a bit unfair, because Harry has confided in me a couple of times. I just said, "_Had_ a sister. I'll explain later."

"Okay, my turn, I'm sorry I accused you of wanting all that attention," said Hermione. "I know neither you nor Harry ask for it, I know you don't want it, I know you've never wanted it. You both want to be normal and I understand that. I don't really know why I said that. Even as I was walking into Lockhart's class, I was trying to figure out where those words came from."

"You really don't know?" I asked. She shook her head. "Well I do. You were so obsessed with Lockhart, with defending him against what Harry, Ron and I were saying, that you forgot we were your friends. Your problem Hermione is that you are as stubborn as a bloody mule. You defend what you believe in very strongly and I respect that. But when it gets to the point that you hurt your friends just to make a point, then that something is not worth defending. Do you understand me? Lockhart is not worth defending."

She was trying very hard to believe that, I know she was. But she still thought he was a good man, which made me sigh in partial defeat. Finally she nodded and said, "all right, I'm sorry. I will admit he's not worth arguing over like this, but I still think he knows what he's doing."

"That's a start at least," I said. "Come on, let's go back to Gryffindor Tower."

We walked back up to the tower together, making light conversation in an attempt to rid our minds of the arguments we'd been having. When we got back, we found Harry and Ron sitting by the fire and we spent the evening doing our homework together.

Later that night, I convinced Harry to tell me what it was that Lockhart had said to him our first day back. I could tell he didn't want to say it, but I think he knew he could trust me with it.

"He said that I was a nobody and that a few people had heard of me."

"What?" I asked.

"It gets better. He said that it wasn't as good as winning _Witch Weekly's_ Most-Charming-Smile Award five times running. I think he was going to say something about you. He probably would have if you'd been in class today."

"The nerve of him," I said outraged. "You're more famous than him by a long shot Harry. Why didn't you say as much to him?"

"He didn't give me a chance, and please don't say anything about it Leslie," pleaded Harry. "I really don't want this brought up again."

"All right," I said, though I still wasn't happy about the situation.

It's been over three weeks since then and every time Lockhart comes into sight, Harry ducks away. There's a very annoying first year called Colin Creevey that's also decided to permanently latch himself to Harry's side. He's like a bad penny, he always turns up. He keeps taking photos of everything and everyone, he's asked Harry for an autograph several times and asked for mine once. I said, "no," to him so forcefully, I think he was quite hurt by it. But I absolutely _do not_ sign autographs. Poor Harry can't bring himself tell him to clear off.

This morning, Colin was even taking photos of Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team playing Quidditch. Oliver Wood got them all up at the crack of dawn to practice some new moves. Ron, Hermione and I sat in the stands and watched them play, breakfast for Harry in Hermione's lap. But then things got worse. The Slytherin team showed up.

You won't believe this. Draco Malfoy is the new Slytherin Seeker and his father paid for the entire team to have new brooms, Nimbus 2001's. They're the very best brooms there are, I felt sorry for all three other house teams.

"You see Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best," said Malfoy.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," said Hermione. "They got in on pure talent."

Malfoy took one step towards her and said, "no one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!"

To say there was an outrage at his words would be an understatement. Alicia Spinnet said to him, "how dare you!" at the same time as I said, "you take that back, you miserable cockroach!" Fred and George both dived at Malfoy, ready to pummel him into a pulp, but Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain, shielded him. Ron pulled out his wand and said, "you'll pay for that one Malfoy! Eat slugs!"

He pointed his wand at Malfoy's face, but because it snapped during the incident with the Whomping Willow, it backfired on him. The spell hit him full force and he started belching slugs all over the place. All the rest of us backed away from him in disgust while the Slytherin's were all laughing their heads off. Harry and Hermione eventually pulled Ron up and we started for Hagrid's hut, not knowing what else to do.

"Wait!" panted Ron. Every time he tried to speak, there was a wave of more slugs. "We…can't…let him…get…away with…what he…said."

"Well if you're so adamant about it," I said. I had to admit Malfoy deserved some punishment for saying what he said to Hermione. I took out my wand and flicked it at Malfoy, who was lying on the ground on his stomach, laughing so hard. The spell hit him in the face and he started belching up slugs even more forcefully than Ron. The Slytherin team stopped laughing, but didn't seem to want to help him. I started for Hagrid's hut along with the others, but not before seeing Marcus Flint run at me, his fist raised.

"Stay away from her!" said Fred. He and George grabbed Flint by the arms and pulled away him from me.

"I'll…tell…my…father…about….this," panted Malfoy in between slug eruptions.

"Do you honestly think that scares me?" I asked. "Besides, I have friends on my side." The rest of the Gryffindor team all nodded at me, saying that they'd defend me if Lucius Malfoy made a fuss over this little incident.

I turned and ran to catch up with Harry, Ron and Hermione who were already several yards ahead of me. "Better?" I asked Ron sweetly. He nodded at me and managed to smile.

We made it to Hagrid's hut, but not before seeing Lockhart come outside. We ducked behind some bushes, so he wouldn't see us. He made his way back up to the castle and we knocked on Hagrid's door. He let us in and set a large basin down in front of Ron for him to use. We told him what had happened, and even though he didn't approve of what I'd done to get back at him, he agreed that Lucius Malfoy probably wouldn't make a fuss if it was me he'd be up against.

"What did Lockhart want with you, Hagrid?" asked Harry.

"Givin' me advice on getting' kelpies out of a well. Like I don' know." He criticized Lockhart a bit more, which was rare for Hagrid to do. He usually has great respect for most of the teachers, especially Professor Dumbledore. But he changed the subject by asking why Ron had tried to curse Malfoy.

"Malfoy called Hermione…I don't know exactly what it means," said Harry.

Hermione got up and walked over to the window, her arms crossed. "He called me a Mudblood."

"He didn'!" said Hagrid furiously.

"He did," I said. "I didn't think he had the nerve to say something like that, but he does apparently."

"What's a Mudblood?" asked Harry.

"It means 'dirty blood,'" said Hermione. "Mudblood's a really fowl name for someone who's Muggle-born, someone with non-magic parents, someone like me. It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation."

"You see Harry, there's some wizards like the Malfoy family, who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call 'Pureblood.'"

"That's horrible," said Harry.

"Yes it is," I said. "It's the most insulting thing one can say to a Muggle-born."

"But you and Ron don't say things like that," said Harry.

"Because we've been raised not to," I replied. "If my uncle ever heard me use that word…" I shuddered.

"He'd what?" Harry asked.

"You know my uncle, he's a very even-tempered man, he never gets angry at anything. But once, when he brought me into work with him, he heard someone use that word, and he completely blew up at them. He screamed for ten minutes at them, I just hid under his desk, covered my ears and tried to block out what he was saying. I was afraid to go near him the rest of the day. Later, he told me what it meant and made me promise never to say it."

"And he's a good man for it," said Hagrid. "The whole thing is kodswallop. More to the point, they've yet to think of a spell that our Hermione can't do." She smiled at that.

Later, Harry and Ron had to serve detention for the flying car incident. Ron had to go to the Trophy Room and polish every single thing there with Filch. Harry had to go help Lockhart answer his fan mail.

Hermione and I waited up for them, doing our homework so we could relax tomorrow. Ron came in rubbing his arm and Hermione gave him a potion to rub on it that would relax the muscles. Harry came in a few minutes later with a frightened look on his face.

"What's the matter Harry?" I asked.

"I heard a voice when I was in Lockhart's office," replied Harry. "I heard a voice that said, 'let me rip you…let me kill you…" something like that. It was creepy."

"And Lockhart couldn't hear it?" asked Ron. Harry shook his head.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Hermione. "There must have been someone else in the room, but he should still have heard it."

"I know," said Harry. "I don't get it either."

Now as I sit here finishing this entry, I realize now that dark forces are at work here and I'm not sure even Dumbledore will be able to stop them. It's going to take the four of us working together to stop it, just like last year. Why do I have the feeling that every single year, it's going to be up to us to stop whatever dark forces will be acting against us?

Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, the plot thickens. I want to apologize to everyone who's a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart, because I know I bashed him a lot in this chapter. Believe me, I'm going to do a lot more of it. Personally though, I think he deserved it. Next time, we'll have the attack on Mrs. Norris and some research into the Chamber of Secrets. Stay tuned!


	16. November 1st, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, we've skipped ahead to the first attack, the one on Mrs. Norris at Halloween. I have a few scenes that are of my own creation, and I have the deathday party as well as the attack. Just in case the start is a little confusing, the reason the date is November 1st is because it was after midnight when Leslie started writing this entry and therefore no longer Halloween. Happy reading!

11-01-02

Dear Diary,

Halloween is quickly becoming my least favorite holiday. I was very thankful just an hour ago when the clock sounded midnight, signifying that Halloween was over. Something always happens on it. I mean, Harry's parents were killed on Halloween, exactly a week before mine were, and last year was the incident with the troll. So I woke up this morning with a very bad feeling in the bottom of my heart that something bad was going to happen today. And I was right.

After Harry told us about what he heard in Lockhart's office, I wondered what kind of person could hear a voice that no one else could. Even in the wizarding world, this really isn't something you want to experience. I'm scared for Harry, so are Ron and Hermione. None of us know what's going on or what's going to happen and I hate that feeling.

Lying in bed that night, I wondered what I was going to do about it. One thing I absolutely cannot stand is sitting by and doing nothing. I spent most of the next day thinking about it too. Harry was on edge the entire day, obviously listening for the voice again to make sure he wasn't imagining it. I'm guessing he didn't hear it again, which believe me is a good thing. I could tell that he was frightened of what he'd heard, but there was something else there, something that I'd hoped wouldn't be there. He was curious about it. He wanted and still wants to know why only he could hear it, and I don't blame him for that, I just wish he wouldn't dwell on it.

But in spite of voices being bad omens, I couldn't help but admit that I was as curious as he was. So for that entire week, I would wait until the common room cleared out, then don my invisibility cloak and comb the castle listening for voices. I started with the dungeons and patrolled a different floor every night, listening for anything out of the ordinary. I'd stay up for two or three hours every night, then give up once I was sure there was nothing to find on that floor. I'd return to the common room afterward and go straight to bed, wishing I had something to report to Harry.

The final night of my hunt was a Saturday night and I had no problem with staying out the entire night if I had to. I searched the whole of the seventh floor and all the towers, then went over a quick map of the castle in my mind to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. But still I didn't find or hear anything. I went back to the common room but as I was about to remove my cloak, something stopped me. The portrait hole swung open again, but no one entered. I had a feeling I knew who it was. A second later, Harry materialized out of nowhere, his father's cloak in his arms.

"Hello Harry," I said. He looked up startled and I removed my own cloak.

"Leslie," he stuttered. "What are you doing down here? I thought you were in bed."

"I could say the same of you," I told him. I took a seat on the couch by the fire and patted the spot next to me. "All right, what's going on?"

He sighed, sat down and said, "I've been wandering the castle for the last week trying to find the voice again."

"That makes two of us," I said to him. "I've been combing the castle all week long."

"If I'd known you were sneaking out too, I'd have offered to share an invisibility cloak," said Harry, and I smiled a little at him.

"So, did you find anything?" I asked him.

"No," he responded. "I strained my ears but I didn't hear it again."

"I didn't hear anything either," I said. I could see disappointment clearly in his eyes and I could hear it in his voice. That instantly put me on edge. It's one thing to go looking for disembodied voices, but when you actually hope to hear them, then something is wrong with you. I had to work hard not to slap him across the face and ask him what he was thinking.

"Has Hermione turned up anything?" he asked me.

I sighed as I thought of Hermione's answer to all problems: go to the library. She's spent all of her free periods researching voices and who can or cannot hear them. I told her she was crazy, that things like this aren't likely to be recorded in a book, but she as usual wouldn't listen to me.

"Not that I'm aware of," I said. "I think it's best if we don't dwell on this Harry."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that we shouldn't be looking for things we have no control over. We don't know if this voice is going to show up again, we don't know whose it is or what's going on, we are totally and completely in the dark. I think it's better that we just give up, move on and wait until something develops."

"But when that something develops, one of us could get hurt," said Harry. "I don't want anything to happen to you Leslie. Or to Ron and Hermione either," he added quickly, but not quickly enough to cover up the fact that he meant me alone. I sighed. He was fighting a losing battle, it's only a matter of time before he realizes that.

"I don't want anything to happen to you or them either," I said. "But I don't see what we could possibly do."

"Should I tell Dumbledore?"

"No, I don't think that'll help at all. Even as great a man as Dumbledore is, he won't believe you unless he has good reason to, and we both know that he doesn't have an ounce of reason to listen to you right now."

"We have more of a chance with him than with any of the other teachers."

"You have a point, but you'll still end up in the psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's."

"St. Mungo's?" asked Harry.

"St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," I replied. "All of our kind go there when they're sick or have anything else that's physically or mentally wrong with them."

I could see him shudder. The thought of going there doesn't give me much comfort either. I hate hospitals, they just plain give me the creeps.

We were about to say goodnight when suddenly, Harry stopped and looked at me strangely. It took me a minute to realize that he wasn't looking directly at me, but at the invisibility cloak in my arms.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Your cloak," he said.

"What about it?" I asked, looking down at it. Then I saw it. I had it draped over my shoulder, like the way one would casually wear a cloak. I could almost see my shoulder through it. I couldn't see the floor right through it like I should have done. I looked back up at Harry confusedly.

"Put it on," he said.

I did as he said and he looked at me for a minute. "What is it Harry?" I asked him.

"I can almost see you under that cloak," he said. "You're starting to appear again."

"But this cloak is supposed to keep me invisible even in the brightest light."

"I know," he said. I slipped it off and placed it in his outreached hand. He took it and examined it carefully, but I could tell he was just as confused as I was. Finally, he just shook his head and handed it back to me.

"I'll send a letter to my uncle," I said. "He'll know what's wrong with it."

Harry nodded, then we both said goodnight and went upstairs to bed. The next morning, I sent Ibbett with a letter to my uncle and the package containing my cloak. I had to borrow Hedwig because the package was still a little big for poor Ibbett. I got a letter about a week later saying that the reason for it not functioning was because it was getting old and worn from use. I'd only used it a few times, but my father used it so much when he was at school, I shouldn't be surprised. It's not worth using now, and he doesn't believe it can be repaired. He's going to keep it just for the memories and is currently working on finding me a new one. I believe he has a contact who knows how to get one.

It's been three weeks since that conversation and during that time, none of us heard anything that sounds like a creepy voice wanting to kill someone. We've all been trying to get back into our regular routines since then, but Harry still keeps listening for it, I know he does. Even walking the corridors between classes, I see him with narrow eyes and perked ears, listening for anything that isn't student chatter. It scares me to see him like this. I don't want him to dwell on this any longer.

Then about a week ago, Harry came in all muddy and wet from Quidditch practice, saying he'd been invited to a deathday party. Nearly-Headless-Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, is apparently celebrating his 400th deathday on Halloween.

"A deathday party?" asked Hermione after Harry told us. "I'll bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those. It'll be fascinating."

"Why would someone want to celebrate the day they died?" asked Ron.

"Well, he's dead so he can't celebrate his birthday any longer," I said. "He needs some way to commemorate his time as a ghost."

"That makes even less sense to me Leslie," said Ron.

"That's because you have no knowledge of psychology, human or otherworldly," I said to him.

"I wish I hadn't agreed to go," said Harry. "I only did to be polite, but I'd love to go to the feast."

"A promise is a promise Harry," said Hermione. "You said you'd go."

"I know," said Harry. "I really need to start looking before I leap."

As the days passed, I could see Harry was beating himself up for his promise to go to the deathday party. He also told me and Ron something else about the day he was invited. Apparently, Filch is a squib. He has magic blood running through his veins, but he can't do magic to save his life. That would explain why Filch hates the students so much, they're learning what he never had a chance to learn.

When Halloween arrived, the four of us made our way down to the dungeons where Nearly Headless Nick was holding his party. There were long, black candles lining the walls, casting an eerie light all over the place. As we approached the dungeon, the sound of nails scratching on a board drifted to my ears. I winced and had to resist covering my ears. I had the feeling it would be very unladylike of me to enter a party with my hands over my ears.

"Is that supposed to be music?" asked Ron.

"Well, they are ghosts, so I suppose nothing really bothers them anymore," I said. "They can't feel pain, so they no longer have to worry about noises that could completely ruin their eardrums."

"She's right," said Hermione. "All that's left of them is ghostly white skin, no blood, no nerves, no nothing."

"Quit being a know-it-all, Hermione," said Ron. She just scowled at him.

"Keep moving," said Harry, trying to avoid a Ron-Hermione argument. He and I both have gotten very good at that over the last few months.

Nick bowed us inside when we reached the door and we entered the dungeon to see hundreds of translucent figures floating around what looked to be the floor of a ballroom. Dungeons and ballrooms, a very strange combination, but to a ghost, I suppose it makes a certain sense.

"Look, food!" said Ron.

We moved towards a table that had what looked like food on it, but we moved away the instant the smell reached us. I've never smelled anything that disgusting in my entire life. It was as though they left the food out in the open for months to let it rot, before bringing it here. It was awful!

"I expect they've let it rot to give it a stronger flavor," said Hermione.

"Can we move? I feel sick," said Ron.

We stayed a little longer, chatted with a few of the ghosts we knew, but then decided it was time to go and rejoin the land of the living. We were on our way up to the school feast when Harry stopped suddenly. Ron almost ran into him.

"Harry, what is it?" asked Hermione, but I could tell it was. Harry had his eyes narrowed and his ears perked up. It was the same look he'd had for the past three weeks. He was listening. He'd heard the voice again.

"Listen!" said Harry urgently. Ron, Hermione and I all strained our ears, but I couldn't hear anything, and by their expressions, neither could they.

"Harry, none of us hear anything," said Hermione. "What's going on?"

But I could already see what Harry was going to do. He meant to follow it, find it.

"Harry, don't even think about it!" I said to him. But he'd already started running at full speed down the corridor. "Never listens to me," I said as I started after him.

"Hurry up, it's going to kill someone!" shouted Harry from up ahead. He was moving more quickly than I'd ever seen anyone move, by the time the rest of us reached the entrance hall, he was already at the top of the marble stairs. He didn't stop to wait for us. We tried to keep up with him as best we could, but he was turning and running down so many corridors so quickly, it was extremely difficult. Finally, he stopped in a corridor on the second floor. He was listening hard, but had apparently lost track of the voice.

"Harry, what was all that about?" asked Ron, who was doubled over panting. Hermione was out of breath as well, I was standing up straight, but I could feel how flushed my face was.

"Oh my gosh," said Hermione, giving a gasp and pointing down the hall. "_Look!_"

"Oh dear lord," I whispered.

There were words written on the wall further down the hallway. They read as follows:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"Oh no," said Harry, and that's when we saw what was hanging underneath it. Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, was hanging by her tail from a torch bracket. She'd been petrified.

"We've got to get out of here," said Ron. "We don't want to be found here."

"It's too late," I said. "Listen." Footsteps were filling the adjacent corridors and the next second, people were filling up the entire passage. When they saw the scene laid out before them, there was instant silence. The four of us stood alone, trying to ignore the stares and whispers.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware!" said Malfoy from the front of a group of Slytherins. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

"What's going on here? Come on, make way, make way," said Filch, elbowing his way through the crowd. When he saw Mrs. Norris, he stared in disbelief, then his eyes fixed on Harry. "You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"Argus!" came the voice of Dumbledore. He and the rest of the faculty appeared at the head of the crowd, but when he saw what had been done, he was silent for a second as well, but only a second.

"Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately," he said. Everyone began to clear out of the corridor and we followed. But then he said, "everyone except you four," he said, gesturing at the four of us. We stayed in the corridor, looking nervously at each other. If our stories weren't straight, which they wouldn't be because we couldn't let anyone know that Harry was hearing a disembodied voice, then we'd get punished for something that we didn't do. We might even get expelled for this. I tried hard not to picture my uncle's face if I was expelled.

"She's not dead, Argus," said Dumbledore. "She has been petrified. But how she has been petrified, I cannot say."

"Ask him, you saw what he wrote on the wall," said Filch, pointing at Harry.

"No second year could have done this Argus," said Dumbledore.

"If I might, Headmaster, Potter and his friends might simply have been in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Snape.

I tried hard to keep the surprise out of my face, but still, I couldn't keep my eyes from widening. Hermione and I exchanged shocked looks, Ron was staring at Snape with his mouth hanging open. Harry was trying hard not to think about what was going to happen, he was barely even concentrating on what Snape was saying. But to the rest of us, the idea of Snape defending us was laughable.

"However," continued Snape, and Ron and I both lost our shocked expressions. Should've known that was coming. "The circumstances are suspicious. I don't recall seeing these four students at the feast."

Harry explained about the deathday party.

"But why not join the feast afterward?" asked Snape.

"Because it was almost over anyway," I replied, using my talent for making up an impromptu story. The rest looked at me confusedly, but caught on quickly as to what I was doing. "As we were leaving the dungeons, I asked Ron what time it was. When he told me, I didn't think it would be worth going to the feast and I said as much to the others, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," said Hermione. "I thought it was strange, you never miss a meal."

"And I didn't intend to," I continued. "The food would be almost gone, but I thought if we went back up to the common room, we could eat something there. Hermione knows a spell that can conjure us up some food, don't you?" I turned to look at her and when she saw the urgency in my eyes, she agreed.

"Yes, I've read all about Culinary Charms," she said. "I'm sure I can cast one."

Snape glared at me, as though daring me to back down. I glared back at him, looking him straight in the eye and standing my ground. He turned back to Dumbledore, who said, "innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

"My cat has been petrified, I want to see some punishment," said Filch.

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore. "As I understand, Professor Sprout has a very healthy group of Mandrakes. I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris." He then turned to us and said, "you may go."

We turned back down the corridor and headed back for the Gryffindor common room. We waited until we were sure they couldn't hear us before Harry turned to me and said, "Leslie, you were brilliant back there. I couldn't think of anything to tell Snape."

"Don't mention it," I said. "You're lucky I'm a very good liar when I want to be."

"Do you think I should have told them about the voice?" asked Harry.

"Are you mad?" asked Ron.

"No Harry, even in the wizarding world, hearing voices isn't a good sign," said Hermione.

"She's right," I said. "It's strange, you hear this voice and Mrs. Norris turns out petrified. There's something going on here, something strange, something evil."

"What is the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Hermione. "I'll bet it's in _Hogwarts, A History_, but the problem is I left my copy at home. I couldn't fit in my trunk with all the Lockhart books."

"I left mine at home too," I said. "But I'll bet I can get my uncle to send it over."

"Would you do that Leslie?" asked Harry. "We have to find out what's going on."

"In the morning," said Ron, when we heard the clock strike midnight.

We were about two floors up when I felt someone grab my arm and pull me into an alcove. I shrieked, but stopped when I saw that it was Cedric.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"You guys go on ahead," I said to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "I'll catch up in a few minutes." Hermione shepherded the guys down the corridor before they could ask what was going on. She looked back at me and I nodded at her, telling her it was all right for her to tell them who Cedric was and what he was doing with me.

He looked up and down the corridor to make sure we were alone before pulling me further into the alcove and sitting me down against the wall.

"What's going on?" he asked in a hoarse whisper. "What were you doing there? Why weren't you at the Halloween feast? I looked for you every few minutes but you didn't come."

"You're already acting as my personal bodyguard, Cedric," I said to him. "You don't have to pry information out of me as well."

"You spent all of last year keeping secrets from me Leslie. I don't want that to continue into this year. I want you to be able to tell me things. Why do you always feel as though you can't trust me?"

"I do trust you, surely you know that."

"The way you act makes it seem like you don't. You never tell me anything."

"All right, if I tell you now, will you back off?" He nodded and I explained everything that had happened that night. When I finished, he was silent for several minutes.

"Just tell me you had nothing to do with what happened to Mrs. Norris," he said.

"Of course I didn't, none of us did," I said.

"Okay," he said, but he was scared, I could tell.

"Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets," I asked him.

"I know there's a legend about some sort of chamber hidden somewhere in the castle," he said. "But I don't know the details. I forgot to pack my copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ so I can't really tell you."

"Don't tell me you don't have one either," I said. "Hermione and I couldn't fit our copies into our trunks."

"But I remember my father telling me that once there was some trouble about this chamber, I don't remember when or what happened. I think someone died, but don't quote me on that."

"All right, we have to make an agreement, as soon as one of us finds out something, we tell the other."

"Agreed," he said. "And if one of your friends discovers something, tell me."

"Agreed," I said.

"Let me walk you back to your common room," he said. "I know a few shortcuts that'll get us out of trouble in case one of the teachers shows up." I nodded and thankfully we made it to the corridor that led to the Gryffindor common room easily. We said goodnight and I entered through the portrait hole. Harry, Ron and Hermione were waiting up for me.

"What did Cedric want?" asked Hermione.

"He just wanted to know what happened," I said. "He was somewhere in the crowd of people watching the incident."

"If you could call what happened tonight an incident," said Ron, but he quieted down after the look Hermione gave him.

"How do you know him, Leslie?" asked Harry. I could see the jealousy in his eyes, the same look that I saw in Cedric's eyes a year ago, when he saw Harry holding my hand as we were leaving the Great Hall.

"He and I have been friends for years," I said. "He was once the only friend I had. He's the one that sent the owl to Dumbledore telling him to come back from London the night Quirrell tried to steal the Sorcerer's Stone."

"I wondered who Dumbledore meant," said Ron, remembering what the headmaster had said.

"Can we trust him?" asked Harry.

"Of course we can, I trust Cedric with my life," I said. "If I ask him to, he'll help us."

"That's good," said Hermione. "Because I think we're going to need help."

"Yeah, we are," said Ron. "The whole school's going to think we petrified Mrs. Norris. We need someone to believe our side of the story."

"I say we just see how events unfold," I suggested. "We can't just go snooping around the school looking for answers, and Harry, you can't keep listening for that voice."

Then I realized with a jolt that I'd told Cedric about the voice. I hadn't meant to do that. Now he was going to think that Harry was insane, but I was sure that he wasn't going to tell anyone else. We had an agreement, unless something happened to change the circumstances, he wouldn't repeat anything I told him.

"All right, I'll stop listening for it," he said, but I knew he wouldn't abide by that.

I came back down here and have been writing since then. I just can't imagine who'd want to do something so horrid. Sure, Mrs. Norris isn't a nice cat and her master is a scoundrel himself, but I don't know anyone who'd want to hurt them like that. If I knew the legend of the Chamber of Secrets, I might be able to figure this out better. First thing in the morning, I'm going to send Ibbett to Uncle Jerry with a letter asking him to send my copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ over immediately. That should give us some answers. Until then, all I can do is wait and see what happens. Goodnight little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have the first attack and suspicions are already flying around like crazy. The next chapter is probably going to go all the way to the attack on Justin Finch-Fletchely and Nearly Headless Nick. I haven't decided for sure how much I'm going to include in that one. Stay tuned!


	17. November 19th, 2002

**Author's Note: **All right, so we have skipped ahead to the night of the dueling club. This chapter is going to have everything that happened in the few short weeks in between Halloween and the dueling club. I also have a couple events in here that put the spotlight on Leslie a little bit. Happy reading!

11-19-09

Dear Diary,

The plot thickens, as the Muggles like to say. Ron, Hermione and I are trying so hard not to believe it, but the rest of the school is now 100% positive that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin. He's a Parselmouth. I wish he would've told us himself, but apparently, he didn't know of this…shall we say, unique gift of his until Ron told him of it. But what's worse, he had to reveal it to the majority of the school and now all the Hufflepuffs believe that one of their own is Harry's next victim. Things are worse than I'd imagined. I know Harry doesn't have anything to do with these attacks, but as the weeks pass, more people just become more convinced that he's the culprit.

As November began, Harry was able to relax a bit with all the last minute Quidditch practices. That's the only way he can really get his mind off something, by getting on his broom and playing Quidditch, or just by flying at all really. He takes after his father in that. James Potter was a fantastic Quidditch player, flying was one of the things that came most naturally to him, second only to making mischief.

"James and his three friends made all kinds of trouble," Uncle Jerry once told me. "But above all else, James' one true passion was flying, and Sirius, Remus and Peter would all come out and cheer him on at every match, and occasionally during a practice. I remember sitting with them several times to watch the team play. Your father wasn't a bad player himself."

So I wasn't surprised when I found that Harry takes after his father so much. But I highly doubt that James Potter was a Parselmouth too. It is such a rare gift that even though it is passed down through the family, it skips several generations. There's never any way of knowing which members of the family are going to inherit this gift and who won't.

All right, after the incident with Mrs. Norris, we all were attracting many strange looks over the next few days, Harry and I more so than Ron and Hermione. Apparently, if famous people are caught at the scene of some horrific event, everyone immediately thinks that they caused said event to get themselves publicity. As if Harry and I don't have enough publicity already.

All so far that's happened to Ron and Hermione is people staring and whispering about what could have possibly happened, but Harry and I have had people commenting to us on the situation. A Ravenclaw sixth year asked Harry, "hey Potter, why exactly did you petrify Mrs. Norris like that? I mean, I know most of the student body is thanking you for it, she's a nasty piece of work, but why that method?"

"I didn't do anything," said Harry testily. "I just found her and was about to go and get help when the entire school entered that corridor."

"Right," said the Ravenclaw, obviously unconvinced.

A Hufflepuff fourth year said to me, "Miss Angkatell, did you assist Harry Potter in that act against Mrs. Norris? Or did you do it yourself? Why were you there with him?"

"I didn't do anything and neither did Harry," I replied. "That corridor is the most direct route back to the Gryffindor common room. We were just going upstairs to rest and chat for a little while, that's all."

"Chat about what?" asked the student curiously.

"I don't know, we would've decided what to talk about then," I said, starting to get annoyed.

"But how do the rest of us know…" began the person, when Cedric showed up.

"Matthew, what are you doing?" he asked, coming to stand next to me.

"I was just asking Leslie here what happened on Halloween," said Matthew.

"Miss Angkatell," I said coldly to him.

"What difference does it make whether or not I call you Leslie?" asked Matthew.

"Because people who believe I'm guilty of a crime I didn't commit don't have the right to call me by my first name," I said.

"Besides, I think it's obvious what happened," said Cedric. "She was on her way back to the Gryffindor common room with her friends when they found Mrs. Norris. It's as simple as that. But why are you and everyone else so keen to believe anything but the truth?"

"Perhaps because it isn't as obvious to everyone else that that is the truth," said Matthew.

"It's obvious to me," said Cedric. "Leslie has never lied to me. I know she wouldn't start now. Now I think you should go before you start making a scene."

"I am not making a scene," said Matthew.

"But I will if you don't leave," said Cedric and he made a fist and held it in front of Matthew's face. The poor boy went pale instantly. He started staggering back down the corridor, sweat beginning to pour down his brow.

"Thank you Cedric," I said, turning to him. "I appreciate you helping me like that."

"No problem Les," he said, and I had to admit I liked the new nickname. "He had no right to speak to you like that. Besides, Matthew may be in Hufflepuff, but he's been in trouble with quite a few of the teachers. If he gets into a fight with someone, it's going to be sent in an owl to his parents and he gets a Howler sent at breakfast the next morning. Trust me, he had enough Howlers his first two years at Hogwarts to make him infamous around the school."

"Thank you all the same," I said. He walked me to my next class, glaring at anyone who stared or whispered about me.

"Cedric," I said after a moment. "Why did you say I had never lied to you?"

He looked surprised at that and said to me, "because you haven't."

"But there were so many things last year I didn't tell you…" I began, but he stopped me.

"Keeping secrets isn't the same thing as telling lies, Leslie," he said to me. "You told me what was happening eventually, but you never gave me false accounts, did you?" I shook my head. He continued, "even though you kept secrets from me, I knew you'd tell me when you were ready to."

"What made you so sure?" I asked.

"I had faith in you, faith that you would trust me," he said. "Faith that you would believe that I'd keep my promise to you and respect that everything you tell me is in confidence."

"Even the letter to Dumbledore the night of the Stone?" I asked.

"I didn't know the full story that night," he said, with a look that told me he'd rather not be reminded of that night. "But after that look you gave me and what you said to me, I knew I couldn't stand by and do nothing. You scared me to death Leslie, I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself. All I knew was that if I went to Professor Sprout or Professor McGonagall, they'd say that you could take care of yourself or that it wasn't my concern. I knew Dumbledore would listen though."

"You always help me Cedric, even when I'm sure I don't need it," I said as we stopped outside the Transfiguration classroom. "Thank you for everything." He nodded and we parted ways.

After that, Harry and I have gotten a lot less stares from the Hufflepuffs, but the rest of the school isn't relenting at all. It's almost a relief that I have so much work to do. But still, the threat of the Chamber of Secrets keeps weighing down on my mind. A few days after Halloween, I received my copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ from Uncle Jerry, and one night when the four of us had the common room to ourselves, I read the legend aloud to the others. I'd read it to myself beforehand and the whole story made me sure I was going to have nightmares for the rest of the week. It read:

_The Chamber of Secrets is a legendary chamber said to have been built by one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Three of the four founders, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff worked harmoniously with each other, but the fourth, Salazar Slytherin, did not. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all magic families, and believed that any and all Muggleborn students were unworthy to attend a magical school. He was unable to persuade the others to agree to his terms, so he left the school._

_According to legend, during the construction of the castle, Slytherin built a secret chamber of which the other founders knew nothing. Only he knew how to gain entrance to the chamber and only he could control the horror that dwelled inside it. Before his death, he was heard to say that one day, his heir would return to the castle, enter the chamber and unleash the monster living there, which would lie dormant until its master came to call on it. The heir alone would be able to control said monster and by so doing, purge the school of all those that Slytherin believed were unworthy to study magic._

When I read that to the others, I saw all the color drain out of their faces.

"Do you think there really is a Chamber of Secrets?" asked Ron hesitantly.

"Yes," said Hermione resignedly. "Couldn't you tell? McGonagall, Dumbledore, they're worried. All the teachers are."

"But if there really is a Chamber of Secrets and it really has been opened, then that means that Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts," said Harry.

"That doesn't make sense to me," I said and they turned to stare at me. "Why now? I mean, this could be a student as young as the first year all the way to a more experienced seventh year. But if it was a seventh year, why wait all this time before opening the chamber?"

"I don't see your point Leslie?" asked Ron.

"Maybe because you're so bloody blinkered," I said coldly to him. "The Heir of Slytherin is someone who just knows how to gain access to the Chamber of Secrets. He or she could go down there any time they wanted and unleash the monster, whatever it is. The monster would then do the work for that person, purge the school of Muggleborns, and the Heir would never have to get his hands dirty. If they knew that, why would they wait until they were far along in their Hogwarts education before opening the chamber?"

"You're suggesting that the Heir of Slytherin is in the sixth or seventh year?" asked Hermione.

"That'd be my guess," I replied.

"What if it's a first year?" asked Harry.

"I don't think so. The first years aren't experienced enough in magic yet to do anything like gain access to a hidden chamber and control a monster. Slytherin would've put a powerful spell on the entrance to the chamber to ensure the other founders wouldn't be able to find it, let alone get in and destroy the creature. Besides knowing the location of the entrance, they'd have to know how to break that spell."

"I have another idea," said Ron. "You said that the Heir of Slytherin could unleash the monster and never get his hands dirty." I nodded. "Well, who do we know that never has to get his hands dirty because he has a couple of lackies to do everything for him and thinks all Muggleborns are scum?"

"If you're talking about Malfoy," began Hermione.

"Of course, you heard him," said Ron. "'You'll be next Mudbloods.' He practically said he was the Heir of Slytherin."

"I heard him, but that doesn't mean he's the Heir of Slytherin," said Hermione.

"Maybe Ron's right Hermione," said Harry. "I mean, look at his family. All of them have been in Slytherin for centuries, he's always boasting about it."

"Crabbe and Goyle must know, maybe we could trick them into telling," said Ron.

"No we couldn't," I said. "Those two are thick, but they're not _that_ thick."

"There is another way," said Hermione. "It'd be difficult, not to mention we'd be breaking about fifty school rules and it'll be dangerous, very dangerous."

"Are you planning to tell us anytime soon?" asked Ron irritably.

"No arguing now," I said to them before they could get in one of their rows. "Just tell us Hermione."

She sighed and said, "all right, it's called the Polyjuice Potion. It'll allow the drinker to temporarily take on the physical form of another."

"You mean if Harry and I drink that stuff, we'll turn into Crabbe and Goyle?" asked Ron.

"Yes," said Hermione. "But here's the problem. It's in a book called _Most Potent Potions_, in the restricted section of the library. I don't know how we're going to get our hands on it."

"Maybe we could trick one of the teachers into signing a note for us," said Harry.

"None of them would sign for that book, they're not idiots," said Ron.

"There is one who's enough of an idiot that'll sign for it," I said, and all three of them knew I was talking about Lockhart. "But I have a better idea. I know how we can get that potion right now. Harry, I need to borrow your invisibility cloak."

He didn't ask any questions, he just went up to his dormitory and got it for me. I like that in a person. Though I have to admit, I think he was a little afraid of what I was about to do. Hermione wasn't though.

"What are you doing Leslie?" she asked.

"I'm going down to the library and I'm getting the potion recipe," I replied.

"Leslie, there's a spell on the entrance to the library," said Hermione. "No books can leave the library without being checked out by Madam Pince."

"And some of the books in the restricted section will scream if you open them," said Harry. "Believe me, I tried once when we were looking for Nicholas Flamel's identity. I almost got caught by Filch."

"Don't worry, I know how not to get caught," I said, slipping the cloak on.

"When are you going to get another cloak?" asked Harry.

"As soon as my uncle finds me one," I replied. "See you in a minute."

I slipped out of the portrait hole and hurried through the corridors to the library. I hate the castle at night. During the night, it just feels as though it would be the perfect setting for a Muggle murder mystery. It's partly because of reading those that I'm a good judge of character.

I made it to the library all right, but it was even creepier in there without any light. I made sure there was no one around, but since Filch was always guarding the second floor corridor, I doubted anyone would be there.

"_Lumos_," I muttered to my wand and a ball of light appeared at the tip. As I entered the restricted section, I could distinctly hear the sounds of whispering, as though the books were speaking to each other. I remember Harry telling me of that once when he entered the restricted section. It didn't take long for me to find the book I needed. When I took it down from the shelf, I could feel it quivering in my hands. I had a feeling that it would begin screaming if I opened it. That's why I had my wand with me.

"_Silencio, Immobilus,_" I whispered two spells under my breath. The first one was to quiet the book, the second was to immobilize it. I could feel it go still, but I knew I didn't have much time. I flipped through the book until I found the potion I needed and whispered another spell under my breath that would make instant copies of the pages I needed. I felt the book beginning to pull out of the immobilization spell and I immediately closed it and placed it back on the shelf. I grabbed the pages I needed and dashed out of the library, but not before knocking a lamp over on the way out.

"_Reparo!_" I whispered, and it was instantly mended and placed back on the desk.

"Who's there?" came the voice of Argus Filch.

"Crap!" I whispered to myself. I backed into a corner by the door and watched as Filch's hunched form appeared in the doorway. "At least he doesn't have Mrs. Norris to help him," I said silently. He headed back for the restricted section and I took the opportunity to slip through the open door. I ran as fast as I dared back to the Gryffindor common room and I only took the cloak off once I was safe by the fire.

"Leslie, what happened?" asked Harry, taking the cloak from me.

"I almost got caught by Filch," I replied. "I didn't though, and I got what we needed."

I handed the recipe out to them and Hermione eagerly took it from me. She sat down and read through it at least two or three times, judging by the amount of time she spent looking at it.

"Is it doable or not?" I asked her.

"It is, but it'll be tricky," she said. "I've never seen a more complicated potion. There are things here that'll be in the student store cupboard and we can help ourselves, but boomslang skin? Lacewing flies? Even if we can get our hands on those, it'll take a month to brew this potion."

"A month?" Harry, Ron and I all said together. Hermione nodded.

"Wait a moment," said Harry. "How are we going to get our hands on boomslang skin and lacewing flies? They're definitely not in the student store cupboard. What are we going to do, break into Snape's private stores?"

"And how will we be sure that we'll turn into the people we need to, we could change into anyone," I said.

"You have to a have a bit of the person you're changing into," said Hermione, still reading the recipe.

"Excuse me?" said Ron, obviously disgusted. "What do you mean, a bit of who we're changing into?"

"It's part of the potion," said Hermione. "It won't work unless we add a bit of whoever we're changing into to the potion. We don't have to worry about that yet though, we add those bits last."

"Will it honestly take a month?" I asked her. Hermione nodded.

"But Hermione, if Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin, he could attack half the Muggleborns in the school by then," said Harry. We all looked at her as if asking her to come up with another plan, but she didn't.

"Do any of you have any other ideas?" she asked. We all shook our heads. "Well then," she said. "This is the only plan we have and we're sticking with it." We all nodded at her, but none of us were sure about this plan.

The next day was the Quidditch match. I thought the Gryffindor team played very well considering the fact that the Slytherins had much better brooms. It doesn't help that the Slytherins always play a dirty game. The problem was that midway through the game, one of the Bludgers started attacking Harry and only Harry. Fred and George were flying all around him, trying to knock it back towards the Slytherin team, but it kept changing its course and coming back to Harry.

"Blimey, Harry's got himself a rogue bludger," said Hagrid, in the row behind Ron, Hermione and I. "That's been tampered with, that has!"

"I'll stop it," said Ron, holding his wand out in front of him.

"No!" said Hermione, shoving his hand away. "Even with a proper wand, it's too risky. You could hit Harry."

"What are we supposed to do then?" I asked. "Just sit by and let that thing murder him?"

"There has to be a way to get that thing to stop chasing him," said Hermione, and I could see the cogs in her brain working furiously, trying to come up with a plan to help Harry without hurting him as well.

But there was nothing we could do, except leave Harry to fend for himself. As much as I hate saying that, it's the truth. I could see a few of the teachers and a few other Gryffindor's get their wands out to try and help him, but none of them could do anything without endangering Harry or the other players. The sound of Madam Hooch's whistle was heard signaling a time out. The Gryffindor team all headed for the ground, while the rest of us in the bleachers had a few moments to breathe easy and speak quietly.

"Do you think Madam Hooch can do something about it?" asked Hermione. "Perhaps she could trade that bludger for another one, one that hasn't been tampered with, because that one obviously has."

"I don't think there's anything she can do," said Ron.

"There has to be!" protested Hermione, worry written all over her face.

"There isn't!" I snapped at her. "There's nothing we can do Hermione. It'd take too much time to figure out what's wrong with that bludger and they have to keep playing the match. They're not going to stop the whole match because of something like this."

"But that's so unfair!" shouted Hermione frustratedly.

"I don't like it any better than you do, Hermione," I said, "but there's nothing we can do. We can't do anything from up here. If we tried to stop that bludger with magic, Slytherin would just win by default. I hate to say it, but something like this really is considered a trifle during a Quidditch match. They don't cancel matches for any reason at all." Seeing Hermione's angry glare, I said just as angrily, "don't give me that look. Do you think I'm enjoying seeing Harry up there flying around for his life? I'm as worried about him as you are, but I don't see how we can possibly help him."

"Isn't there some spell that'll help him?" asked Ron desperately as the players took to the air again.

"None that I can think of," said Hermione. "There's always the chance that one of the players will get in the way of the spell. I don't want the Gryffindor team to get hurt; the Slytherin team could fly in the way too."

"And the problem with that last part is?" I asked, thinking I wouldn't mind seeing a Slytherin have a nasty accident.

"This is no time for that infamous wit of yours, Leslie," said Hermione angrily.

"Think Hermione, what spell books have you read?" asked Ron. "Surely, there's a spell you know that'll only hit that bludger."

As they began arguing over the different spells she'd learnt, I went back to watching the game. Fred and George had gone back to the rest of the team, leaving Harry to deal with the rogue bludger. I suspect Harry told them to do that, they wouldn't have left him to his own devices otherwise. He began flying as quickly as he could around the Quidditch pitch, trying to evade the bludger while simultaneously looking for the Snitch. I saw Malfoy stop a few feet below him, obviously yelling something up to him, then I saw something next to him, Harry obviously saw it too. The Snitch was right next to Malfoy's ear and he hadn't seen it. But Harry waited one second too late.

"HARRY!" I shouted as I saw the bludger hit him square in the arm. That jerked Ron and Hermione out of their argument and I heard Hermione scream as she saw Harry lurch forward from the weight of the impact. He flew straight at Malfoy, who swerved out of the way and Harry's hand closed on the Snitch. Unable to keep control of his broom, he hit the ground with a very hard thud, but then had to start rolling and twisting on the ground to avoid the bludger. Ron, Hermione and I were down on the ground in less than two minutes.

"_Felite incantatem!" _said Hermione, waving her wand and pointing it at the bludger, which the next instant had burst into a shower of sparks falling harmlessly to the ground. We rushed to his side, but Gilderoy Lockhart got there first.

"Not to worry Harry, I will fix that arm of yours straight away," said Lockhart.

"No, not you," said Harry.

"Professor, please," I said, knowing that the last thing Harry needed was for that brainless lunatic to make things worse. "He should go to the hospital wing, he _has_ to go to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey can mend bones in half a second."

"Why bother taking him all the way up there when I can mend his arm right here?" asked Lockhart, his tone saying that the conversation was over. I saw Harry give me a look that said, "thanks for trying." I nodded back to him and gave him a fearful look and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was: "what was Lockhart going to do to him?"

"This won't hurt a bit," said Lockhart, rolling up Harry's sleeve. He pulled out his wand and said, "_brakiarm emendo_!" There was a small flash of blue light and after that…well….let's just say it was one of those good news, bad news scenarios. The good news was that Harry's arm was no longer broken. The bad news was that there were no bones left in it! From the shoulder all the way down to the tips of his fingers, there was nothing but skin, sinew and muscle. How did all the muscles and veins and everything in his arm manage to stay in place without the bones there anyway? Actually, I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that.

"Ah, yes, that can sometimes happen," said Lockhart, trying to play it off as though it were nothing. "The point is that…uh…you can no longer feel any pain. And very clearly, the bones are not broken."

"Broken?" asked Hagrid furiously. "There's no bones left!"

"Much more flexible though," said Lockhart as Harry's arm did a sort of flop.

"Why you…" I began, fury rushing through my veins. Hermione was looking at me almost fearfully, but then I felt a hand on my arm pulling me away from the scene. I looked back to see Cedric with a strong hand on my arm, literally dragging me away. I wanted to go back and help Harry who was being taken to the hospital wing by Ron and Hermione. I wanted to kill Lockhart who was talking to Professor McGonagall as though nothing had happened. But with Cedric restraining me, all I could do was follow him out of the Quidditch pitch and down the grounds. We finally stopped after about five minutes, or rather I forced my arm out of his grip.

"What did you do that for?" I asked him angrily. "Harry's my friend and he needs my help. Why did you drag me away from him?"

"How's it going to help him if you pummel Lockhart into a pulp?" retorted Cedric.

"I wasn't going to…" I started but he cut me off.

"Yes you were, Leslie," he said. "The fury was burning in your eyes, everyone around you could see it. I don't think I've ever seen you like that. If I hadn't pulled you away from there, you'd have beaten Lockhart into the ground and been given a month's worth of detention."

"So what?" I asked. "It'd be worth it after what he just did to Harry."

"What would your uncle say?" asked Cedric, playing the trump card he knew would win. "A respectable girl like you who's already on shaky footing after Halloween has just attacked a teacher? He'd yank you right out of school and do you think any of us want to see that happen? Do you think _I _want to see that happen? I don't know your uncle well enough to know what he'd say to you, but I can imagine the look on his face, fraught with disappointment."

I sighed in defeat and said, "yes, you're right. Of course you're right. I do know what my uncle would say and do and believe me, it wouldn't be a pretty scene. So, thank you Cedric, thank you for keeping me in line."

"Anytime Les," he said. "You were right though, Harry needs you. Go on up to the castle and see him."

"See you later then," I said and I ran back up the slope towards the castle. I looked back at him as I reached the castle doors. He hadn't moved an inch and was just gazing after me. I still don't know how to really interpret that look, which is strange, because I can usually interpret any face a person gives me.

I took the shortest route I knew to the hospital wing and found Harry, Ron and Hermione already there. Harry was sitting in a bed about to drink a potion called Skelegrow. It's a formula that's supposed to make bones grow bigger or replace them if you're missing them. It's painful from what I've heard. When Harry drank it, he almost immediately spat it back out and Madam Pomfrey had to pour him another glass.

"Don't worry Harry, you'll be all right in the morning," I tried to assure him.

"It's not that I'm worried about," he said. "It's getting to the morning I don't like."

"Hermione," said Ron suddenly. "I hope this has made you realize what a brainless git Lockhart really is."

"Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione. "I still say he had everything under control."

"Stop defending him," I said to her, feeling the anger begin to boil within me again. "That idiot just incapacitated Harry and you say he made a mistake? He didn't have a clue what he was doing. When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that he is just an incompetent man?"

Our argument was diverted by Madam Pomfrey coming to tell us to leave so that Harry could rest. We went down to dinner in silence and as I ate, I could sense two pairs of eyes on me. One of them I knew was Cedric. I think it's getting to be a habit of his to watch my every move. I looked around for the other pair and I saw Gilderoy Lockhart looking strangely at me. It was odd, he wasn't talking happily with the teacher next to him like he normally does. He was glaring at me with an expression of confusion, as though wondering why I didn't worship him like every other female in this school. I gave him an icy stare back and I think it was in that moment that he realized how much I hated him. Before, he hadn't thought it possible for anyone to hate him. I suppose he didn't realize how much the boys in this school don't like him. They all think he's a nincompoop.

There's something else as well. I distinctly saw him shudder under my gaze, which is surprising. A teacher shuddering because a student is looking at them? What's more, it was a shudder of fear, which reinforces my belief that he is hiding something and he's afraid I'm going to figure out what it is. Hermione's the brightest witch in the class, but she's too wrapped up in him to think he has a secret, but he knows I have the potential to discover it. As soon as I get my new invisibility cloak, I have a job to do.

The next morning, Ron, Hermione and I all went down to breakfast together, but then Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement, and I felt myself go rigid with nerves. The whole hall went silent in half a second, all wondering what he could have to say. Colin Creevey, the annoying Gryffindor first year that had latched onto Harry, had been attacked in the middle of the night. He'd been petrified. Suddenly, the hall was abuzz with whispers and speculation. Ron and Hermione went upstairs to begin work on the Polyjuice Potion, while I wrapped some toast up in a napkin and took it up to the hospital wing to Harry.

"Hey Leslie," he said when I got there. I almost laughed at watching him trying to eat porridge left-handed. I held up the pack of toast and he took it from me gratefully.

"Harry, I just heard about Colin," I said as we left the hospital wing together.

"I know," said Harry. Just as we reached the door, he cast a look over at a bed covered with a curtain, where I presumed Colin's body was resting. I forced myself to look away, not wanting to imagine him lying there, still and cold.

"What happened last night?" I asked. "Did you see them bring him in?"

"I did, but there's something else as well," he said. "I'll tell you as soon as we find Ron and Hermione."

"This way," I said and I led him back to the second floor corridor where we had found Mrs. Norris. There's a girl's bathroom there that's been out of order all year long because of the ghost who lives there, Moaning Myrtle. She keeps having tantrums, which makes people steer clear from there, so that made Hermione think it would be an ideal place to brew the potion. We checked to make sure that Filch was gone and there were no prefects around to catch us and we slipped inside. Ron and Hermione were sitting in the middle of the floor, a cauldron in front of them and Hermione was feverishly stirring the potion.

"Hey Harry," said Ron. "How's your arm doing?"

"Better, thanks Ron," said Harry. "Leslie told me you'd gotten started on the potion."

"We thought it a good idea after what happened to Colin," said Hermione.

"You have to hear this," said Harry. "Remember that house elf, Dobby?"

"The one who came to see you at your home over the summer?" I asked.

"That's the one," said Harry. "He came to see me again last night. He told me that he was the one that stopped Ron and I from getting through the barrier to Platform 9¾ and he made that bludger chase after me."

"Why?" asked Ron.

"To make me go home," said Harry. "He didn't want me here now that history was to repeat itself."

"Repeat itself?" asked Hermione. "You mean?"

"Exactly," said Harry. "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before. I heard Dumbledore say it to McGonagall last night as well."

"Of course, don't you see?" said Ron. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the chamber when he was at school here and now he's taught Draco how to do it."

"Did he say how long ago it's been since the last time?" I asked.

"No why," said Harry.

"Because that could help us pinpoint who the Heir of Slytherin is if it's not Malfoy," I said. "We could trace who was at school here then and see who their descendents are now."

"It has to be Malfoy," said Ron. "Who else hates Muggleborns as much as he does?"

"We have to wait until after the potion is finished to be sure," said Hermione.

A few nights later, there was an announcement about a dueling club. The four of us all went thinking it would be good to train up in case we ever had to defend ourselves. Unfortunately, our two least favorite teachers were proctoring it: Lockhart and Snape. They performed a demonstration in which Snape disarmed Lockhart and sent him flying to one end of the stage.

"Do you think he's all right?" asked Hermione worriedly.

"Who cares?" asked Ron, Harry and I all at the same time.

Lockhart then began to divide us up into pairs, but Snape got to us first. He put Ron with Seamus Finnegan, put Hermione with a Slytherin girl, Millicent Bulstrode and put me with Pansy Parkinson. Worst of all, he put Harry against Malfoy. When the duel began, Pansy began using all these different curses, even though Lockhart had said disarm only. I managed to block and/or dodge them, then pointed my wand at her, saying, "_Petrificus totalus!_" It was the curse Hermione had used on Neville the night we snuck out to stop Quirrell from getting the Stone. Our duel over, I looked to see if I could help Hermione. She needed it all right. Millicent Bulstrode looked like a small troll and she had my best friend in a headlock.

"Stop!" I heard Lockhart yelling over the crowd.

"_Arania exeme!_" I said, pointing my wand at her, which caused her to fly backwards, crashing into another Slytherin and by so doing, releasing Hermione. She came over to me, rubbing her throat and nodding her thanks. Snape finally managed to get order in the place and Lockhart decided to bring up a volunteer pair. That was going to be Harry and Malfoy.

I heard Malfoy whisper, "scared Potter?"

"You wish," Harry whispered back.

They cast a few spells at each other, but then Malfoy shouted, "_Serpensortia!_" and a snake came out of the end of his wand. I backed away from the stage as did a few other people. I hate snakes. It turned on one of the Hufflepuff second years, Justin Finch-Fletchely. Harry walked toward it and a loud hiss came out of his mouth. It backed away, but we were all staring at Harry with wide eyes and open mouths.

"What do you think you're playing at?" asked Justin. Harry just looked confused.

Ron grabbed him by the arm and the four of us practically ran out of the Great Hall. I could feel every pair of eyes in the place staring at us, which is a feeling I hate more than any other in the world.

When we got back to the common room, Ron said to Harry, "you're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm a what?" asked Harry. I couldn't believe he didn't know how serious this was. The whole school will believe he's the Heir of Slytherin now and he didn't realize that. I felt like slamming my head against the wall.

"You can talk to snakes," said Hermione, trying hard to control the panic in her voice.

"I know," said Harry nonchalantly. He what?! He quickly said, "well, I mean, I accidently set a python on my cousin, Dudley, at the zoo once. Once," he added, when he saw our faces. Ron and I exchanged frightened looks and Hermione went as pale as she could get. "So what," said Harry. "I'll bet loads of people here can do it."

"No they can't," said Hermione. "It's not a very common gift. This is bad."

"What's bad? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin…"

"Is that what you said to it?" I asked surprised.

"You were there, you heard me," said Harry angrily.

"I heard you speaking Parseltongue, snake language," I said.

Harry looked shocked at that. "I spoke a different language?" he asked. We all nodded. He stuttered out, "but I didn't realize. How can I speak a language without knowing I can?"

"I don't know Harry, but it sounded like you were encouraging it," said Ron.

"Harry, listen to me," said Hermione. "There's a reason the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth, he could talk to snakes too."

"Exactly," continued Ron. "Now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-grandson or something."

"But I'm not, I can't be," said Harry, finally realizing how serious this was.

"He lived a thousand years ago," I said. "For all we know, you could be."

"Can't we find out if it's me or not?" asked Harry. "Isn't there like a family tree or something we can look up who Slytherin's descendents are?"

"I don't think family trees go back that far," I said. "Mine certainly doesn't, it stops at five hundred. We don't know anything about our family after that." When I saw his face, I said, "I'll talk to my uncle, but if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath."

Harry went to bed early tonight, mostly to avoid the chattering and gossip about what had just happened in the Great Hall. I can't say I blame him. Even most of his fellow Gryffindors think that he's the Heir of Slytherin now and can't understand why he was put here. But I'm the only whom Harry has trusted his secret, the Sorting Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin. It almost did. The only reason it didn't was because he asked it not to, and it is for that reason that I believe he isn't the Heir. I'm going to prove it is not him attacking the Muggleborns if it is the last thing I ever do.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have Colin attacked and now the entire school knows that Harry can speak Parseltongue. Not good. I came up with the idea of Leslie going to get the potion recipe on a spur of the moment idea. I didn't want to do that whole thing of tricking Lockhart into signing the note in the book and just getting it out of the library in the movie was too easy, so I put in my own touch on how they got it. What did you think of that? I came up with that Hufflepuff asking Leslie questions on the spur of the moment too. The next chapter will be on Christmas, the day they actually drink the Polyjuice Potion.

Two more things **(read these please!)**: 1) I've been looking at the story traffic for this page and I have a lot more people reading it than I thought I did, the problem is that no one is reviewing. If you do read my story all the way through, would you please send a review as well? It would make me feel a ton better.

2) I'm going to post a poll on my profile page that has to do with this story. I'm thinking of changing the name to Diary of a Missing Girl. If you think "missing" is the wrong word, then tell me if you have a better one in mind. Or tell me if you think I should change the title at all. In any case, as soon as it's up, could you please vote? Thank you so much! See you next time!


	18. January 2nd, 2003

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to post back on this story, but I have two other stories I'm working on and this one takes a long time to write one chapter for even if I didn't. This chapter is only going to have the Polyjuice Potion scene and a few other scenes that I've made up to go around it.

01-02-2003

Dear Diary,

I think this is the first year I haven't officially celebrated my birthday. I'm thirteen today and my friends didn't know about it until dinner. I know when all their birthdays are of course, so I can send them gifts, but I've never told them when mine is. They found out earlier this evening, but I don't like a fuss being made over it. Besides, with everything that's happened the last few weeks, it doesn't feel right celebrating my birthday? How can I even think of a party and festivities when my friend is in the hospital and we're back to Square 1 in the way of finding out who the Heir of Slytherin is.

I suppose I should start with the fact that there's been another attack, this time though it was a double. The Hufflepuff from the Dueling Club, Justin Finch-Fletchely, was attacked a couple weeks ago, along with Nearly-Headless-Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost. This confused the heck out of everyone, because none of us could see how Nick could die again. He's a ghost for pities sake!

But even worse, this confirmed all the Hufflepuff's suspicions about Harry being the Heir of Slytherin and even though Cedric has been trying to keep the whispering and the rumors at bay, it's getting more and more difficult for him. I even see him eyeing Harry strangely occasionally. His eyes will dart between Harry and I and I just know he's wondering if he should grab my arm and take me away from Harry, take me somewhere safe. He said as much to me.

It was two days after the attack on Justin. Ibbett dropped me a folded piece of paper at breakfast time. It wasn't really even a letter. It had one sentence on it, but I recognized the handwriting as Cedric's. It read:

_Meet me at our usual conference room after your last class. We need to talk. C._

It wasn't hard to guess what he wanted to talk to me about, so after Transfiguration, I made my way up to the abandoned classroom where we always sat to talk. I knocked twice and then opened the door. He was already there waiting for me. He was standing at the window, looking out at the lake. He didn't turn to face me, which was strange. He always greeted me. I closed the door and went over to stand by him, but he still didn't acknowledge my presence.

"Cedric?" I asked him hesitantly.

It took him a little while to answer. He seemed to be collecting his thoughts, so I didn't pressure him for a response. I knew how testy some people, especially my uncle, could get when they were interrupted from thinking. I just waited for him to tell me what was bothering him.

Eventually he turned to face me and when he did, I could see a deep seriousness in his eyes that I'd never seen there before, not even the night of the stone. His expression made me extremely nervous and I had to work to keep my voice from quivering as I said, "Cedric, what's wrong?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, Leslie," he said.

"I hate conversations that start like that," I said, taking a couple steps back from him.

Out of nowhere, his hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "is there any way I can convince you to stop spending so much time with Harry?"

"Excuse me?" I said, with much more anger in my voice than I'd intended.

"After what happened to Justin and Nearly-Headless-Nick, I'm worried that he's going to attack someone else, that Muggleborn friend of yours for instance," replied Cedric.

"Harry wouldn't attack Hermione, they're friends," I said heatedly. "Why are you worried about Harry attacking her?"

"It's more than just Hermione and the other Muggleborns I'm worried about," said Cedric and in his eyes, I saw exactly what was worrying him.

"You're afraid that he'll hurt me," I said. "I'm a Pureblood and therefore unlikely to be targeted, but you're still afraid that he'll lose control and hurt me by accident."

"Maybe even on purpose," he said. "The thought that you may get hurt and there's nothing I can do to stop it is eating me alive. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you out of danger."

"So you think by spending less time with Harry, I'll be in less danger?" He nodded. "That's sweet of you, Cedric, but _if_…" I put tons of stress on the word if. "If he is the Heir of Slytherin and _if_ I stopped spending time with him, that'd make him suspicious of me. He'd possibly think I'd try to stop him and he'd hurt me then. If he is not the Heir of Slytherin, which I am positive of, then it'd hurt him to lose one of his closest friends. I've sworn both to him and to myself that I'll help him clear his name. He didn't do this Cedric, any of this, and I won't rest until the entire school knows that."

"There's really nothing I can do to make you stop is there?" he asked. I shook my head. "Well then, just promise me you'll be careful."

"You're not going to go into that whole 'I'd rather drink poison than hear something's happened to you' speech, are you?"

"You know me too well."

"That and I've heard it two or three times from you. I promise I'll be careful. Now do you promise that you'll help me?"

"I promise." And suddenly, his face took on an eager look, like there was something he just remembered he had to tell me. "That reminds me, I have some information I think you'll be interested in."

"Let's hear it," I said, instantly in brighter spirits.

"Remember you told me you'd found out that the Chamber had been opened before?" I nodded. "Well, I asked my father to do some checking and he and your uncle have apparently been working together to investigate that era in the school's history."

"Why didn't I think of that?" I asked. I couldn't believe I didn't think to ask my uncle to check a few things for me.

"They haven't found much out yet, I only asked about three days ago. But my father did say that the last time the Chamber was opened was fifty years ago and one of the Muggleborns was killed. They haven't found who did it yet, nor who caught him. Apparently, the whole thing was covered up. The students who'd been petrified were revived, the parents of the dead girl received closure and everyone was able to breathe easy when the chaos stopped."

"How could they not have discovered the culprit's identity?" I asked.

"Father said that the whole thing was covered up really well, but I think that was just an excuse," said Cedric. "I think he does know who it was, but for some reason, he didn't want to tell me."

"If neither your father nor my uncle wants to say who it was, then that means either we won't believe it, or it's someone very close to them and they don't want to go around making accusations without further proof," I said.

"You're the most logical witch I've ever met," said Cedric.

"You haven't spent enough time around Hermione then," I joked. "They didn't say anything else?"

"No, and that worries me."

"It worries me too."

"May I ask Leslie, who do you think is the Heir of Slytherin?"

I took a minute in answering. Finally I said, "Harry and Ron are positive it's Draco Malfoy. I'm not so sure though, and neither is Hermione."

"It'd make sense though, after what he said on Halloween," said Cedric.

"The problem is that Harry is so eager to accuse Draco, it's unfair really," I said. "He's too stubborn to admit there might be another possibility, though I can't see what it is at the moment. If it turns out that Harry's wrong and it isn't Malfoy, then I don't know what we're going to do. Part of me wishes it is him so that we can easily catch him."

"How do you plan on catching him?" asked Cedric.

I took a quick look round to make sure we really were alone then said, "this does not leave this room," and he rolled his eyes in a way that told me I should know that by now. I hesitantly continued, "do you know what Polyjuice Potion is?"

"It allows the drinker to transform temporarily into the physical form of another," said Cedric. "Snape's mentioned it several times. Why do you ask?"

"Because Hermione is brewing some as we speak," I replied. "We're going to break into the Slytherin common room and interrogate Malfoy."

"You're going to what?" Cedric shouted at me, so loudly that I winced and stepped back from him.

"Not so loud," I said, rubbing my ears.

"You're going to break into the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy if he's the Heir of Slytherin?" asked Cedric. I nodded. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Leslie, that's grounds for expulsion."

"So we'll just have to make sure not to get caught," I said.

"It's not as easy as that," said Cedric. "You'll have to find the Slytherin common room, get the password, talk to Malfoy and get out of there before you turn back into yourself and you'll only have an hour to do all that. Time is of the essence, Leslie."

"Time is of the essence anyway," I said. "This can't go on Cedric. If we waste anymore time, there won't be any Muggleborns left. We have to do what we can to keep them safe. My best friend is Muggleborn, I'm not going to let her get hurt. We are going to go through with this and you can't stop us."

I walked briskly out of the room before he had time to protest. I broke into a run and didn't stop until I reached the Gryffindor common room, not wanting to know what argument he'd made to try and talk me out of it. I knew he'd tried to follow me after I left the classroom, but I'd had too much of a head start on him and thankfully didn't have to elbow him in the ribs like I did the night of the Stone. I meant it when I said that I'd do anything to clear Harry's name.

But the conversation reminded me of something else, a quality in Harry that I didn't like, but I had a feeling he wasn't about to rid himself of it. In Harry's opinion, if something's wrong then Malfoy is either at the heart of it or is somehow involved in it. As much as I hate Malfoy, I don't think Harry should be so quick to accuse him. That night when I tried to talk to him about this, he got cross with me too.

"Are you honestly trying to tell me you don't think he's the Heir of Slytherin?" Harry asked me.

"I just think we should keep an open mind," I replied. "What if it isn't him?"

"It is, Leslie. We all know it, but why are you and Hermione trying to avoid it?"

"Because there's a chance it isn't him. Harry, there are other Slytherin's that hate Muggleborns, they all hate Muggleborns. It could be any one of them. And besides, I still think the Heir of Slytherin is someone in the sixth or seventh year. A second year like Malfoy just hasn't learnt enough dark magic to try and break a spell guarding the Chamber of Secrets."

"What if there isn't a spell around it? What if there's just a password or something?"

"That makes it too easy. Anyone could open it if they knew the right words and location."

"Why do you have to be so bloody logical?" asked Harry. "You're worse than Hermione."

"I wouldn't go that far," I said. "But please try to keep an open mind, Harry." He just huffed upstairs to the boy's dormitory without even saying good night to me. I just rolled my eyes at him and went upstairs to my dormitory as well.

The weeks passed and soon Christmas had arrived. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all elected to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. I had planned to return home, but Uncle Jerry sent me an owl saying that he had to go back to Paris for three weeks and would be spending Christmas there. I said that was all right and that my friends needed me here. I just filled out some order forms to get the presents I wanted for my friends.

The holidays turned out to be the perfect time to drink the potion. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were all staying and with the castle practically deserted, the chances that anyone interrupting our plans lessened.

Cedric stayed over the holidays too. He was the only Hufflepuff that decided to stay; everyone else was convinced that Harry was dangerous and all wanted to get home, miles away from him. Since there was no one for him to sit with at the Hufflepuff table, he came over every meal time to sit with us. Harry and Ron were very hesitant to accept him at first, but after I explained to them that he knew all about our plans and that he was perfectly trustworthy, I noticed them calm down. Neither of them was happy about him joining us, but I knew they'd get used to it eventually.

On Christmas Day, Hermione and I were up extra early, adding last minute ingredients to the potion. The excitement was practically radiating off of her when she said that it was ready. We went back upstairs, stopping to get Cedric on the way. I'd already gotten permission from Professor McGonagall to let Cedric into the Gryffindor common room. She said he could stay in the dormitory if he wanted to, but he goes back and stays in his own dormitory every night.

We all sat down in the common room and exchanged gifts, but none of our minds were really on it. Not that I didn't appreciate my presents. I got a pack of Chocolate Frogs each from Harry and Ron, a book from Hermione called _Famous Wizards of Great Britain and Ireland_, which I was excited to read. Harry and Ron think I'm crazy because I'm fascinated by wizard and by Muggle history. Then I got a huge surprise from Uncle Jerry.

"My new invisibility cloak," I almost screeched, taking the precious fabric and letting it pass over my fingers. "I thought it'd take him much longer to find me a new one."

"Great, now you don't have to borrow mine when you decide to sneak out," said Harry jokingly.

My gift from Cedric was even better than that: a small pair of pearl earrings, simple but beautiful. It was more than just the gift, it was the thought that he had gone to so much trouble just to get me this.

"Cedric, you didn't have to do this," I said, but my tone of voice said that I wanted to keep them.

"You didn't either," he said as he unwrapped the Sneakoscope I'd gotten him. "I have to admit I'd like to see you with them on."

I was lucky I talked my uncle into letting me get my ears pierced when I was young, because Cedric watched as I slowly slipped the pearls into my earlobes.

He smiled and said, "they look beautiful on you, Leslie."

"Thank you Cedric," I said, my voice simply dripping with gratitude.

I wanted to stay in that moment longer, just sitting there, looking into his eyes, but the thought of what we were about to do kept my head out of the clouds.

We went down to the Christmas feast together, all five of us after playing several games of Exploding Snap with Fred and George. We sat separate from everyone else and huddled together after making sure no one was listening in on us.

"Everything's set," said Hermione. "Cedric, you're going to take Leslie's new invisibility cloak and go into the Slytherin common room with us. If the potion wears off before Malfoy's told us everything, we're going to need you to cast a spell or something and distract him so we can get away.

"I can do that," he said. "I also followed one of the Slytherin's last night. Their common room is down in the dungeons, off a side passage that leads to the one where Snape holds his lessons."

"Good work Cedric," I said and he nodded his thanks.

"Now what we need is a bit of who you two are changing into." She gestured at Harry and Ron.

"Crabbe and Goyle," said Harry.

"Right, we also need to make sure that the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy," she continued. She held up a couple of cakes and said, "I've filled these with a simple sleeping potion, simple but powerful. Once they're asleep, hide them in the broom cupboard and pull out a few of their hairs. While you're doing that, Leslie's going to go down to the laundry and steal a few Slytherin robes for you to wear."

Neither Harry nor Ron looked too keen with this plan. "Whose hair are you ripping out then?" he asked.

"I've already got mine," she said. "Millicent Bulstrode, I got this off her robes the night of the Dueling Club."

"Are you both going to do this or just Hermione?" asked Cedric.

"Just Hermione," I answered. "All the Slytherin girls have gone home for Christmas and we knew it'd look suspicious if two of them showed up for an hour and disappeared again. Even one looks suspicious. So we flipped a coin to see who would have the 'honor' of breaking into the Slytherin common room."

"And I won," said Hermione nervously. All the excitement that had bubbled off of her that morning had faded away now and she was trying very hard to hold all the nervousness in. I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, but it didn't seem to help much.

After the feast was over, Hermione and Cedric went back upstairs to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to check on the potion, while Harry, Ron and I went off to do our jobs. Harry and Ron took the cakes and hid them in the entrance hall. I donned my invisibility cloak (and I'm happy to say that it was in perfect working order) and went down to the laundry. It wasn't hard to find Crabbe and Goyle's robes. All the robes are divided by house, by gender and then by year and Crabbe and Goyle are two of the biggest people in our year. I grabbed them as well as a spare set of robes for Hermione and went back upstairs to the bathroom. I arrived at the same time as Harry and Ron and took off my invisibility cloak to show them what I had gotten for them.

"I can't believe we have to wear these," said Ron in disgust.

"Relax, I made sure they were clean before I got them," I said reassuringly.

"It doesn't matter how many times you wash them Leslie, they still have essence of Crabbe and Goyle all over them," said Harry, holding them at arm's length away.

"You know you're going to have to stop holding those away from you and actually put them on," I said. Harry looked at me like I'd just grown an extra head.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into separate stalls to change into the Slytherin robes while I poured the potion into three glasses for them. I looked up at Cedric for support and he nodded once at me, telling me to go ahead and give them the vials. I knocked on each door and each one opened, a hand sticking out from inside reaching for the glass. I gave them each a glass and went over to stand with Cedric. We stood there, waiting and listening.

After a second, we heard coughing and grunts of pain, making me think that at least one of them was vomiting. I just pressed my face into Cedric's shoulder and he placed his hand on the back of my head, holding me there. His other arm wrapped itself securely around my waist and held me so tightly that it was becoming hard to breathe. I didn't care though. I needed every bit of comfort he could give me.

After a few minutes, though it felt like hours, it quieted. I looked nervously up at Cedric, then chanced a glance over at the three stalls. After another second, I heard the sound of the door being unlocked and Goyle stepped out of the stall Harry had been in minutes before. Another door unlocked and Crabbe stepped out of the next stall.

"Harry?" I asked uncertainly, staring at Goyle.

"Yeah?" came Goyle's deep voice. "I guess it worked."

The next second, Cedric was doubled over laughing, clutching the wall and me for support.

"Cedric, what is so funny?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, it's not a laughing situation," he said, in between fits of laughter. "But you sounded just like Goyle just then, it was so funny to hear." I couldn't help but give a little chuckle then too. I appreciated that Cedric had done that actually. Someone had to lighten the mood.

"Hermione, are you coming?" I asked, turning to the last occupied stall.

"No, I don't think I'm going," she said, in a high-pitched voice quite unlike her own.

"Hermione, are you okay?" asked Crabbe, which almost made Cedric and I laugh again.

"Just go, you're wasting time!" Hermione called back. This worried all of us, quickly sobering up Cedric and I.

"I'll stay here and find out what's going on, you three go interrogate Malfoy," I said. Cedric donned my invisibility cloak and I heard the sounds of three pairs of feet exit the bathroom. I turned back to the door and said, "Hermione, are you all right?"

"Go away!" she yelled back.

"Tell me what's happened. Did the potion go wrong?"

"Obviously!"

"How did it go wrong? Did you turn into someone else? You didn't grow any extra appendages, did you?" I remembered some of the awful drawings that came with that recipe and I shuddered involuntarily.

"I'll tell you later, Leslie!"

"No, you'll tell me now!" I said angrily to her.

Just then, Moaning Myrtle decided to drift into the stall to see what was happening and it was Hermione that gave a wail a second later instead of the ghost. When Myrtle drifted out of the stall, she had the biggest smile I've ever seen on anyone.

"Wait 'til you see, it's awful," she said.

"_Alohamora,"_ I whispered to my wand, pointing it at the spot on the door where the bolt is located on the other side. The door opened but a second later, the door was slammed shut and locked again. "Hermione!" I said exasperatedly.

"Go away!" she repeated. I just sat down against the wall, letting out a sigh as I did and waited for the boys to return.

The hour passed more quickly than I thought it would. I began pacing after I was sure half an hour had passed and I had gone back over to see if I could convince Hermione to tell me what had happened when the boys came rushing in. Harry and Ron were back to being themselves and Cedric materialized out of thin air and passed me the cloak, his face all red and sweaty.

"What happened?" I asked. The shocked look on Ron's face and the angry look on Harry's told me that Malfoy wasn't the Heir of Slytherin and we were back to Square 1.

"Malfoy's not the Heir of Slytherin," Cedric confirmed to me in a whisper.

"Hermione, come out," called Harry. "We've got loads to tell you."

"Go away!" Hermione called for the tenth time.

"What's the matter with her?" Ron asked, turning to me.

"I don't know, she won't talk to me," I answered truthfully.

We heard the sound of the door being unlocked and when it opened, my eyes widened and I had to stifle a gasp. The boys were all staring at her open-mouthed. Hermione had turned into a cat. She had long brown fur on her face, cat ears sticking out the top of her head and a long, brown tail.

"Do you remember me telling you that the Polyjuice Potion was only for human transformations?" she asked. "It was cat hair I plucked off Millicent Bulstrode's robes." She turned towards us and said, "look at my face."

"Look at your tail," said Ron.

I couldn't help myself. I turned to him shocked and quickly smacked him across the back of the head.

"Ow," he said, rubbing the place where I'd hit him. "What was that for?"

"For being an insensitive prat," I told him. "Come on Hermione, I'll take you upstairs to the hospital wing."

"What if somebody sees me?" she asked. "I don't want someone else to see me like this."

"No one will see you, the castle is almost completely deserted," I said to her.

She wouldn't leave for quite some time. Eventually, I had to put my new cloak around her and she was able to walk up to the hospital wing in peace. Harry, Ron and Cedric went back to the Gryffindor common room while I made sure Hermione got comfortable.

"I'll find out what happened from the boys, then I'll come and see you tomorrow," I promised her as soon as she was settled in bed.

"Okay," she said. "I can't believe I didn't check to see if it was even human hair."

"Everyone makes mistakes," I reassured her. "You had no reason not to think it was human hair. That could've happened to anyone. If I had drunk that potion, it would be me lying in bed with a furry face right now."

"I'll be so behind in schoolwork," groaned Hermione.

"I'll bring you the assignments every night, I promise."

"Thank you Leslie," she said, tears in her eyes. "I'm glad I have a friend like you."

"Everyone needs a friend," I said to her. "Get some rest, Hermione."

I went back up to the common room to find Harry, Ron and Cedric waiting by the fireplace. I took a seat on the sofa next to Cedric and I felt his arm come around my shoulders. I was grateful for that. It'd been a long day and I was exhausted.

"Is Hermione all right?" asked Harry.

"Mortified," I replied simply. "She can't believe she made a mistake like that. I tried to comfort her, but she wouldn't listen. And you have to admit, Hermione doesn't make mistakes very often."

"No, she doesn't," agreed Harry.

"So, what happened down there?" I asked. "Malfoy's not the Heir of Slytherin, but did he tell you anything that might help us? Anything at all?"

"He said he wished he knew who the Heir really is, that he could help them," said Ron. "He knows Harry isn't the Heir, he just thinks that's plain stupid."

"I'm glad someone does, even if it is our school nemesis," I said.

"After that, he said it's been fifty years since the Chamber was opened, which we already knew and that a Muggleborn died, also which he knew," said Cedric. "He even said that he wanted Hermione to be the one to die. Ron was ready to punch his lights out."

"Unfortunately, that's when the potion started to wear off," said Ron. "We ran out of the Slytherin common room, but he followed us. Cedric had to put the leg-locker curse on him."

"I would've loved to see that," I said. The image of Malfoy hobbling down the passageway with both legs stuck together was priceless.

"I was so sure it was him," said Harry angrily. "I was certain of it."

"I did tell you to keep an open mind, Harry," I said. "Why is it so hard for you to see that there might be other explanations other than Malfoy is the culprit behind all these attacks? It's obvious in this case there is another explanation, so why is it so difficult for you to believe that?"

"Because he's evil, Leslie," said Harry. "The first time I met him, I saw it."

"I was with you the first time you met him, that time in Madam Malkin's," I said. "I didn't see anything evil about him then. I saw a spoiled little boy with lots of money who thinks he can use it to gain power."

"Your uncle uses his money to gain power," Ron pointed out.

"But he doesn't take advantage of it," I said. "The Malfoy's do. That's what I hate about them, that and their obsession with Pureblood wizards being better than everyone else, which is a load of rubbish. They think they can buy their way out of anything, whereas my Uncle Jerry doesn't like it brooded about that he has half the family fortune in his Gringott's vault and the other half is in trust for me."

"You're only going to inherit half the fortune?" Harry asked confusedly.

"I'm going to inherit my half on my 21st birthday," I explained to him. "My uncle's money is going to come to me when he dies, no matter what age I am. It won't be too long before I'm the richest woman in England, though I wish I wasn't."

"Why?" asked Ron. "I think it'd be a blessing to have that money."

"Take it then, the whole lot," I said. "How did we get on the subject of my money?"

"Yeah, let's get back to the business at hand," said Cedric, who knew too well that I hated thinking of my bequest. "So if Malfoy isn't the Heir of Slytherin, then who is?"

"Are there any other members of Slytherin House who have grudges against Muggleborns?" asked Ron.

"If there are, they don't show it as openly as Malfoy does," I said. "I still can't believe he had the outright gall to call Hermione a Mudblood to her face. That was awful."

"You probably should get used to it, Leslie, because I doubt that's the last time we're going to hear him say it," said Harry.

"Forgive me if I don't get used to it," I said sharply. "Harry, my uncle screamed several incoherent profanities at a man once because he said that word in passing. Whenever he hears anyone say that, he goes off again. Every time I hear someone use that word, I think of what it does to poor Uncle Jerry. So no, I won't get used to hearing anyone, especially Malfoy, say that."

"I'm sorry, Leslie," said Harry. "I'd forgotten that, I'm sorry."

"It's all right," I said. "Just please, err with caution around my uncle and I when it comes to slang like that."

"I say we just try and enjoy the rest of the holidays while we can," said Cedric. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. We're just going to have to wait and see if anything develops."

"I agree, let's just sleep on it," I said. Harry and Ron didn't look so keen on the idea, but they agreed that we all needed to get some rest. Because it was very late in the evening now, Cedric agreed to spend the night in the dormitory with Fred and George Weasley. Their friend, Lee Jordan went home for Christmas. I said goodnight to the boys and went up to the girls' dormitory, which only had me in it now since Hermione was in the hospital wing and Parvati and Lavender had gone home for the holidays. I just got ready for bed, put the invisibility cloak in my trunk and tried to think of who else could be the Heir of Slytherin.

"There has to be someone else, someone who hates the Muggleborns as much as their ancestor did," I said. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so I got dressed again, put on my cloak and went down to the library. I looked to see if there were any family trees, genealogy tables or anything that could help me track down who the Heir of Slytherin might be. But it looks like I was right when I told Harry that family pedigrees don't go back as far as a thousand years. The longest one stopped at 750 years and most of the people in that family weren't even in Slytherin. So I had to give up and go back to Gryffindor Tower. The dormitory was too quiet without the other three girls, so I put my cloak away, then went back down to the common room, lit the fire again, pulled a blanket over myself and went to sleep on the sofa.

That night, I had a very strange dream. I was running down a long, dark tunnel. I was searching frantically for the way out, but I couldn't see it. I was beginning to get tired, but I had to keep running. There was something behind me, something slithering along the passageway. It was the monster that lived in the chamber, I knew it. I didn't dare look back to see what it was, I just kept running. But then, I tripped and fell to the ground hard.

A voice then said to me, "you've done too much snooping. Even if you are a Pureblood, you'll have to go. Shame really. The last of the Angkatell's." A shadow came over me and I screamed as the monster closed in on me. I let out a shriek as I sat bolt upright on the sofa, panting and sweating from the dream. I calmed down when I looked around and saw that I was safe in the common room. I looked up at the boy's dormitories to make sure that I didn't wake any of the guys up and thankfully, none of them came downstairs.

"Thank God," I whispered. I laid back down on the sofa, but I didn't go back to sleep that night. I just sort of drifted into a half stupor, afraid to go completely to sleep in case the dream came back. In the morning, I was woken by Cedric shaking me on the shoulder and asking if I was all right.

"I had a dream last night, Cedric, that's all," I said.

When I told him of the dream, he asked me, "do you think it means anything?"

"I don't know," I said. "I wish I knew what the monster was, but I didn't look at it."

"It's probably just as well, it'd haunt your dream forever if you did," he said to me.

We went down to breakfast together and spent the rest of the day walking around the snow covered grounds, but my mind was on the dream. That night, I didn't have the same dream as the night before, but I had my childhood nightmare, the one where I'm a baby in my sister's arms and she's trying to run away from Bellatrix Lestrange. I know it's that woman, even though I can't see her face. I've grown so used to that dream that I haven't woken up screaming in years. Every night since then, it's been alternating between the two dreams, making it very difficult for me to sleep.

This morning, I was so exhausted from all the dreams, I thought I wasn't going to be able to get out of bed. Cedric tried to come upstairs about noon to see what was wrong, but the stairs up to the girls' dormitory turn into a slide if a boy tries to climb them. That's when I decided I had to get up. I quickly dressed and slid down to meet the three boys and was met with three looks of concern.

"What's the matter, Leslie?" asked Cedric. "Something's the matter, I know it."

"I haven't been sleeping well lately," I said. "I'll be fine."

"Do we need to get you some sleeping potion from Madam Pomfrey?" asked Harry.

"I'll be all right, but thank you Harry," I said.

I got a package and a letter from Uncle Jerry at breakfast time, but I waited until I was alone to read it. The letter said,

_Dear Leslie,_

_How are you, my dear? It's so strange, not having you here for your birthday. But then again, I'm not at home anyway to celebrate it with you. I managed to get your gift though before I left for Paris. It's an exact replica of something we have at home. I thought you might like it for your bedside table. You'll understand once you've opened the package._

_I hope everything went all right. You said your friends needed your help with something. I hope that something wasn't against school rules and I hope that everything went as it was supposed to. Be careful up there my dear. Amos Diggory and I have been doing research on the Chamber of Secrets in our spare time and while I know that you will find the answer, let me remind you to be careful. This is a very dangerous business. Just keep an open mind. Not everything is as it seems._

_Happy Birthday, my dear. I'm sorry that I can't be there to say it to your face. I'll see you soon._

_ Much love,_

_ Uncle Jerry_

I opened the parcel he sent me and saw that it was a framed reproduction of the Angkatell coat of arms that's hanging in the sitting room of our flat. I smiled at that and wrote a thank you letter back to him. I have to admit I have been wanting one for my nightstand.

When I went down to dinner that night, there was all the usual assortment of food, but then during dessert, a cake floated up on to my plate with "Happy Birthday Leslie" written on it and thirteen candles around the rim. I couldn't believe that had happened, but then I supposed that someone, possibly my uncle, had ordered it.

"What on Earth?" I asked when I saw it.

"I ordered that for you," said Cedric. "I got a letter from your uncle this morning asking to make sure you got a happy birthday, no matter what the circumstances are. I don't have a gift for you, so I went down to the kitchens and asked that this be made for you. The house elves down there got right to work on it."

"Cedric, you didn't have to do that," I said.

"I wanted to," he replied. "Now blow out the candles and make a wish."

"All right, but no singing happy birthday," I said.

I held my hands up in front of my hair, holding it away from the candles and blew them out, my wish being that we'd find out who the Heir of Slytherin was. I then cut slices of cake for Harry, Cedric, myself and all the Weasley's, who had come to see what was happening.

"Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday, Leslie?" asked Harry.

"I didn't want a fuss made over it," I explained. Though I had to admit, I loved the cake. It was German chocolate with vanilla icing, my favorite.

"Happy Birthday Leslie," said Cedric and all the others chorused, "Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you, all of you," I said and for the first time in weeks, a true smile appeared on my face. It wasn't much of a celebration, but it was enough for me. I still think I shouldn't have had so much fun while Hermione was up in the hospital wing and with the Heir of Slytherin on the loose, but I had a feeling Cedric and the others wouldn't stand for that. It was a happy birthday. Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so we know that Malfoy isn't the Heir of Slytherin, which complicates things for the dynamic quartet, now quintet because Cedric's joining them. I never did think it was Malfoy as the Heir, that's just too easy. That's all I've ever seen in Malfoy, just a greedy little boy that had all the money and riches he could ever ask for. He doesn't seem evil to me, he just seems like a snob. Unfortunately, Harry's never thought so. Next chapter is going to have the diary and the trip into Aragog's lair. I'm probably going to have the segment on _Chamber of Secrets_ done in the next two chapters, then we'll be moving on to _Prisoner of Azkaban._

If you guys could leave a review for the story after you've read it, I'd appreciate it. Also, this is probably the last chapter that's going to be posted on this story under this title. I am thinking of changing the title of the story to "Diary of a Missing Girl." There is a poll about this on my profile page, so please vote on that if you haven't already. Thank you so much! See you next time!


	19. March 15, 2003

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to write back, but with two other stories and a bunch of homework every night, it's tough. Well the viewers have spoken and the title of the story has officially been changed to "Diary of a Missing Girl." I got nine votes on my poll saying I should change the title and two saying they didn't care. No one voted no. So I'm going with the people and the title is different. Just remember that the next time your story alert sends you an email for "Diary of a Missing Girl" and not "Missing Character from Harry Potter."

All right, the first half of this chapter is devoted to the diary and then we go into the Forbidden Forest to meet Aragog. The next chapter will be the conclusion of _Chamber of Secrets_, then we'll move on to _Prisoner of Azkaban_. I'm so ready to move on to the third book. Happy reading!

03-15-03

Dear Diary,

Significant progress has been made in the hunt for the Heir of Slytherin. But it has come with a price. Hermione's been petrified. You should have seen her. She was lying stiff and rigid as a board in the hospital wing, staring blankly at something ahead of her. Her hand was stretched out as though she'd been holding something, which she had, but I'll get to that later. Right now, I can't believe this has happened to her. We've worked so hard to protect her and the rest of the Muggleborns, but it seems as though every time we make an ounce of progress, something has to happen to ruin our moment of triumph and make things worse on all of us.

It gets even worse than that. Hagrid has been arrested on suspicion of being the Heir of Slytherin. He can't be. He was in Gryffindor when he was at school here and though we don't know what he was expelled for, it can't be for opening the Chamber of Secrets. I don't want to speak ill of Hagrid, but he doesn't have the brains or the skill to do anything like this. This is meant to defend him and I mean it all in the nicest possible way. Before I give you the details of all of this, I have to tell you about the diary. It's our only clue to the identity of the real Heir of Slytherin.

Hermione spent several weeks in the hospital wing getting cured for the cat incident. There were rumors that she'd been attacked, but with Cedric's help, I was able to quash most of these rumors. Unfortunately, there were some people, Parvati and Lavender for instance, that kept trying to tell me why she wasn't back in classes.

"What aren't you telling us, Leslie?" asked Lavender, about a week after the start of term.

"Nothing Lavender, now let it drop," I said testily.

"You're hiding something all right, now spill it," said Parvati eagerly.

"Why can't both of you grow up and realize that there are some things I like to keep to myself?" I asked them both, my temper growing. "I don't have to share everything with either of you."

"You have to share it with that Cedric boy though," said Lavender slyly.

"My friendship with Cedric is none of your business."

"What is going on between you two?" asked Parvati. "You're together so much."

"It's none of your business," I repeated.

"But Leslie," began Lavender.

"Oh for God's sake," I snapped. "Can't you two find something interesting in your own lives to gossip about and stop meddling in everyone else's? When are you going to learn that the world does not revolve around either of you?"

They both looked slightly hurt at this, but it was enough that they stopped asking me annoying questions. I just pulled the curtains on my bed around, blocking myself from view and settled back in bed with a book. I couldn't wait until Hermione got out of the hospital wing. Then all this nonsense about her being petrified would stop. Then more irritating questions would start about where she'd been all these weeks. I sighed. It was going to take a great deal of patience to get through this. Fortunately, they didn't bother me for the rest of the week.

It was a blessing when Hermione did return to classes, a blessing for me that is. Everyone stopped asking me why she'd been missing lessons and started asking her instead. She hated having to make up excuses for it, but she did the best she could without revealing that we were brewing a potion in secret over the course of the previous term. Besides, she really doesn't want it brooded about that the best student in our year, probably in the entire school, made a mistake on a potion. If there's one thing Hermione is afraid of, it's losing her status as the teacher's favorite student. Well, all the teachers except Snape. It's obvious Malfoy is his favorite.

But get this. The night before Hermione was released from the hospital wing, Harry, Ron and I had just delivered her homework to her and while we were on the way back up to the common room, we passed by a flooded corridor. Out of curiosity, we followed the current of water and saw that, no surprise, it was coming from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. We could hear her crying from inside.

"What's the matter with her now?" I asked.

"Shall we go in and find out?" asked Ron. We didn't see any reason not to, so Harry opened the door and the three of us went inside.

The place was a mess. All the faucets had been turned on, all the water was running from every available water source, it was disgusting. I had to lift the hem of my robes up a little bit and tiptoe through the stuff, and even then it wasn't enough to keep my feet from getting wet.

"I'm going to have to thoroughly wash my feet later," I said to myself, trying my hardest to get rid of the disgusted look on my face as we approached Myrtle.

"Come to throw something else at me?" asked Myrtle. She was sitting up by one of the windows and she was still hiccupping.

"Why would I throw something at you?" asked Harry.

"Don't ask me," said Myrtle. "Here I am minding my own business and someone decides it's funny to throw a book at me."

"But it can't hurt you if someone throws a book at you, I mean, it'll just go right through you," said Ron.

I slapped my hand against my face and tried to suppress a groan. Even _he_ should've known that was the wrong thing to say. Myrtle swooped down in front of him and said, "sure, let's all throw books at Myrtle because she can't feel it. Ten points if it goes through her stomach." She threw her arm forward as if she was about to punch him and it went through his stomach. "Fifty points if it goes through her head," and she did the same thing except her arm went through his head.

"But why would someone throw something at you anyway?" asked Harry.

"I don't know, I didn't see them. I was just sitting in the U-bend thinking about death and it fell through the top of my head." She began wailing again and drifted away. Harry walked over a few feet and picked up a little black book off the floor.

"It's a diary," he said.

"Why would someone want to throw away their personal diary?" I asked. I know I could never throw you away little diary. I continued with, "the writing in it would be ruined now, but a simple spell would make it legible again. Does this person really think no one will find it and uncover all their secrets?"

"No chance of that last part, Leslie," said Harry, who was now flipping through the journal. Ron and I looked over at it and saw that there was nothing written in it.

"It's blank!" said Ron. "What good is that if it's bloody blank?"

"You do have a way with words, don't you Ron," I said sarcastically.

"Look at this," said Harry. "There's a name on the back: 'Tom Marvolo Riddle.'"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle?" asked Ron. "I know that name."

"What?" Harry and I asked together incredulously.

"That night I had detention with Filch," continued Ron. "I burped up slugs over this one trophy, Tom Riddle's trophy. Filch made me wipe it clean about fifty times before he was satisfied."

"What did he win an award for?" I asked.

"It didn't say, all I remember is that it was fifty years ago," said Ron.

"Fifty years ago?" Harry and I asked together.

"Yeah, what's the big deal about that?" Harry and I looked at him like he was insane.

"You did not just say that," I said to him.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron, but Harry was already starting back down the corridor towards the hospital wing. Ron and I followed after him, Ron grumbling about both of us being mental and we went back in to see Hermione.

"What are you three doing back here?" asked Hermione. She took a quick glance back toward Madam Pomfrey's office. She wouldn't approve of us being here twice in one day.

"Look at this," said Harry, handing the diary to her. "We found this in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Ron says the guy who owned it, Tom Riddle, won an award for services to the school and that it was _fifty years ago_."

Hermione's face took on the same incredulous look that Harry's and mine did and she said excitedly, "oh, there must be some valuable information in here. We just have to figure out how to reveal it."

"Valuable information about what?" asked Ron. "What are you three on about?"

"Is he serious?" asked Hermione, looking at me.

"Unfortunately, he's dead serious," I told her. "I would've slapped him upside the head, but I thought I'd let you have that pleasure after you heard what an idiot he's being."

"Thank you, Leslie," said Hermione and without further ado, she reached up and smacked Ron across the back of the head.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing his head where she'd hit him. "What'd you do that for?"

"Like Leslie said, you're being an idiot," said Hermione. "Don't you see what this means?"

"What?"

"This diary is fifty years old. Tom Riddle won an award for services to the school _fifty years ago_. The Chamber of Secrets was opened _fifty years ago_." Ron still looked perplexed. "Oh Ron, wake up! Riddle probably got his award for finding the Heir of Slytherin and closing the chamber. This diary probably contains everything, where the chamber is, what's in it and how to open it. The Heir of Slytherin wouldn't want that lying around."

"Just one problem, Hermione," said Ron. "There's nothing written in this diary."

"Keep it safe until I get back to the common room," said Hermione, handing it back to Harry. "Once I get out of here, I'll start doing a few tests to see if I can reveal its secrets. It might be invisible ink or I can use my revealer."

But she didn't find anything. We tried for a week after that to see if we could figure out how to reveal what sort of information might be stored in it, but nothing worked. Ron thought we were all crazy, but we kept trying.

"You're all wasting your time," he said as we walked down to breakfast one morning. "Riddle just got a diary for Christmas and he never bothered to write it not even once. Either that or the Heir of Slytherin found it and erased all the information hidden inside it if there ever was information."

"I don't think so," I said. "Why would they flush it down a toilet if there's nothing useful inside it?"

"What do you mean, Leslie?" asked Ron.

"Usually when people do that, they aren't trying to upset the ghost living in that bathroom," I said, which is what Ron believed was the case. "Usually they're trying to get rid of something. Whoever it was obviously thought the diary was dangerous to them and felt the need to get rid of it. Not very effective though. If they wanted to properly dispose of it, they should've burnt it or something."

"So why do you think they chose to flush it down a toilet instead?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," I said as we turned into the Great Hall. "Maybe they didn't have much time to get rid of it. Or maybe…what on God's green Earth!"

The Great Hall was decorated with hundreds of pink and red hearts, falling from the enchanted ceiling, hanging from the rafters, even the candles had been turned pink. The rest of the student body and most of the teachers were looking at the scene with disgust.

"Who did all this?" asked Harry.

"Give you three guesses," said Ron, pointing his thumb at the teacher's table. Gilderoy Lockhart was dressed in robes to match the occasion and looking as though this was the best idea he'd ever come up with. I was ready to knock his head off just for thinking of it.

"What on Earth is this?" said a voice from behind me. It was Cedric.

"Lockhart decided we needed to celebrate Valentine's Day," I told him. We stood in the doorway to chat for a moment, while the others went off to the Gryffindor table.

"I knew he was an idiot, but I didn't think he was _this_ much of an idiot," said Cedric. "You can't celebrate Valentine's Day when those poor people in the hospital wing are lying still and cold. It just isn't proper."

"Tell him that," I said nodding at Lockhart.

"While we're here though," said Cedric. "I did get you this." And he handed me an envelope with a card inside. I dug through my bag and handed him one as well. Normally, I don't celebrate something like Valentine's Day, but Cedric is the only one I'm willing to share it with. We said goodbye, each making one more criticizing comment about Lockhart and headed for our respective tables.

Lockhart stood up, waved his hands high for silence and said, "Happy Valentine's Day! And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards!"

I nearly choked on my glass of water for that. Who on Earth would send him one card, let alone forty-bloody-six? He then introduced his "card-carrying cupids," which turned out to be little dwarves with wings and harps. They were the ugliest things I have ever seen in my life. He announced they would be going around the school all day long delivering valentines. None of the teachers looked too pleased with that, especially Professor McGonagall.

And I was right. Every time a dwarf came into her class that day, she turned them into something else and shooed them out, but the still managed to deliver valentines to people. I got about a dozen from boys in the third year and above from all houses, asking me to be their valentine and telling me repeatedly how beautiful I was and how intelligent and witty and they'd love it if I would meet with them over dinner one night. I burnt them all after reading them. They were all from people who just wanted to see if they could get me to fall in love with them and see if I could give them some of my money. The only one I kept was the one from Cedric. It had a very simple message:

_Hoping you're doing all right. Remember that any time you want to talk, I'm right here. Cedric_

It was so sweet. But then I wouldn't expect anything less from Cedric.

One thing about that day was the day that Harry made a breakthrough with the diary. One of the dwarves delivered a musical valentine, which we all guessed was from Ginny (and she had to endure Malfoy making a comment about it too, ugh!) which caused a commotion in the hallway. Malfoy picked up the diary thinking it was Harry's own diary, but Harry used a disarming charm to get it out of his hands. Then we had to pick all of his things up because the dwarf had ripped his bag trying to get to him. There was ink all over his books and his notes and everything, but Tom Riddle's diary wasn't even touched. I remember seeing splatter all over it, but when I got it for Harry, there wasn't even a small blot on it. Harry noticed it too.

"What happened to this?" asked Harry. "Malfoy didn't clean it off for us, did he?"

"Him, are you kidding?" I asked. "The day he'll do something like that will be the day his father gives up trying to outdo my uncle in the way of money and power. No, it must've absorbed all the ink somehow."

We went into class still discussing this. Hermione thought it might be something to check on, but Ron still thought we were nuts. He wasn't paying much attention anyway. His wand was acting funny again. He's really going to have to get another one, but he doesn't want to, because it'll just remind his mother of the incident with the Whomping Willow and he'll get another Howler back. I swear though, if he doesn't get one himself, I'll drag him to Diagon Alley and buy him one myself. He isn't going to be able to take his exams with that thing.

That night, Ron, Hermione and I were all in the common room, Hermione and I trying to teach Ron how to do the spells we'd learned in Charms that day, but with his wand in the condition it was in, it was impossible. Harry had gone up to the boys dormitory awhile before and we all knew he was looking at the diary again. About an hour after he'd gone upstairs to examine it, he came dashing downstairs again, all sweaty and panting and shaking. But what stood out to me was the look of total and complete shock on his face. It frightened me to see him in this state.

"Harry, what's the matter?" I asked him.

"It was Hagrid," he stuttered out. "Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

"What?" the three of us asked together.

Harry explained how he'd figured out how to work the diary and that Tom Riddle had preserved part of his memory in the diary and that all you had to do was write in it and he'd write back. He showed Harry his memories. Apparently, the night the Muggleborn girl died fifty years ago, he went down to the dungeons and found Hagrid trying to smuggle a monster out of the castle. Hagrid kept protesting his innocence, but it didn't make any difference. The monster got away and he was expelled from Hogwarts. Dumbledore gave him the position of gamekeeper though, so he was able to make a living for himself and have a home.

"It can't be Hagrid, it just can't be," said Hermione.

"We don't even know this Tom Riddle, he sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch to me," said Ron.

"The monster had _killed_ somebody, Ron," said Harry. "What would any of us have done?"

"It'd have to depend more on the circumstances," I said. "If it was Malfoy, I'd turn him in quick as a wink, but Hagrid's our friend. We can't just go tell Professor Dumbledore that he's been setting a monster loose in the castle. It's a real moral dilemma, isn't it?"

"Look, Hagrid's our friend," said Hermione. "Why don't we just go and ask him about it?"

"That'd be a cheerful visit," said Ron. "'Hello Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"

"I say we don't say anything," I said. "Only if an emergency comes up."

"What sort of emergency?" asked Harry.

"Do you really need to ask that question?" I asked him and he knew I meant if there was another attack. We'd have to go ask Hagrid some questions then, but it didn't look as though there would be another attack. It'd been nearly four months since the double attack on Justin and Nick, so we were beginning to become hopeful that we'd never have to say anything to Hagrid, for which we were also grateful. We really didn't want to have to speak to him about something that clearly caused him so much pain to think about.

The days passed and Harry didn't hear that voice again, which gave me some hope. I wanted to kiss Oliver Wood because he was keeping Harry in Quidditch practices so much, he didn't have time to go looking for the voice. He was so busy training for his match against Hufflepuff that he barely had time to do his homework.

One night, he came in from a particularly long practice session to find Neville pacing back and forth across the common room. He'd been driving most of us nuts for the past half hour, but he wouldn't tell us what was wrong.

"Harry, I don't know who did it, but you'd better come quick," he said.

The two of them dashed upstairs, Ron, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas close behind them. Hermione and I gazed after them, wondering what was going on. We didn't have long to wait. Harry and Ron came back downstairs to speak to us a few minutes later.

"Tom Riddle's diary is gone," said Harry.

"What?" Hermione and I asked together.

"Someone went through my trunk," said Harry. "Pages were torn out of my books, the pockets were hanging out of my robes, someone was looking for something and they found it. They took Riddle's diary."

"It had to have been a Gryffindor, nobody else knows our password," said Hermione. "Nobody else knows our password, unless it wasn't a student."

"Who could've taken it though? How did the thief know it was and that Harry had it?" asked Ron.

"The Heir of Slytherin must've seen it," I said. "On Valentine's Day, remember when your bag split, Harry? There was a whole group of people in that corridor that all saw Malfoy holding up the diary. The Heir of Slytherin must have been in the crowd and must have recognized it. They broke in here and stole it or enchanted a Gryffindor student to do it for them."

"So where does that leave us?" asked Hermione.

"It means that the Heir of Slytherin is going to strike again," said Harry. "He'll probably do it sometime soon, out of fear. And most likely, he isn't going to be concerned with any of the Muggleborns this time."

"You don't mean he'll come after us?" I asked him. He nodded.

Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep that night. The next day was a Saturday and it was with a very apprehensive state of mind that I went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I didn't eat much either. Cedric was there and praise the Lord, he noticed I wasn't hungry. I looked directly at him, slightly nodded my head, then looked over to the Great Hall doors and then let my eyes drift up to the ceiling before returning to him. He got the message and nodded his head back at me.

I excused myself from the table and went upstairs to our little meeting place. Once I got to the old classroom, I checked to make sure Peeves wasn't inside, then shut the door and went over to wait by the window. A few minutes later, I heard the door open and close behind me and Cedric came over to stand next to me.

"What's wrong, Leslie?" he asked, putting a concerned hand on my shoulder. I told him what had transpired the previous day and the look on his face when I finished was more than shocked. "The Heir of Slytherin isn't going to attack you, is he?"

"I think it's more likely that he'll go after Harry and Hermione, since he's the one that made the discovery and she's Muggleborn," I said. "Ron and I are Purebloods, so hopefully we're safe, but I'm still scared. What if something happens to one of my friends? What if I can't find the Heir of Slytherin and stop him? That's what really scares me, Cedric. Every day, every classmate I pass in the hall, I could be walking past the Heir, I could be seeing him, talking with him, and I don't know it. He's walking freely among us and the fact that he might be keeping tabs on us is terrifying. I don't know what to do."

Cedric pulled me into a bone-crushing hug and said, "don't worry, Leslie. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

"Worry about yourself, not about me," I told him. "What if they hurt you to make me stop trying to fix this mess? I couldn't bear that."

"Nothing's going to happen to me or to you," he said. "I won't let anything happen."

"I don't really see what you can do," I said, trying to hold back my tears of fear.

"I don't know what's going to happen or when," said Cedric, making me look at him. "But I swear to you, I won't let you or your friends get hurt. We'll find this guy, Leslie, and when we do, you and I will celebrate with Harry, Ron, Hermione and all the rest of the school and we won't ever think of this again. Don't think on it anymore now. Put it out of your mind and get some rest."

"Thank you, Cedric," I said, smiling gratefully. "You always know what to say to cheer me up."

"It's my job to know how to cheer you up," he said, running a finger down my cheek. "Now go upstairs and get some sleep. It doesn't look like you got any last night." I did as she asked and went back upstairs to the Gryffindor dormitory, sleeping much better than I had the previous night.

The next day, yesterday was the Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff. We all went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Harry confident that they were going to win. Hermione had woken up early and gone to the library, so I ate breakfast with the guys and we went out onto the Quidditch pitch for the match. But just as the players were warming up, Professor McGonagall's voice rang out loud and clear around the pitch.

"This match has been cancelled," she said. "All students are to return to their house common rooms at once. Their Heads of Houses will be there shortly."

"What's going on?" I asked, looking down at the field where the players were all landing. Oliver Wood was trying to talk Professor McGonagall into letting them play, but she was ignoring him. Instead she was speaking to Harry. A horrible thought occurred to me.

"There hasn't been another attack, has there?" I asked. "She isn't blaming Harry for it, is she?"

"Let's go down and find out," said Ron. We dashed down the stairs, knocking aside anyone who got in our way. Well, Ron did most of that, I just followed along in his wake. Then to my surprise, Professor McGonagall gestured at us to come over and join them when we got within seeing distance of her and Harry. I looked at Ron in confusion and we walked over to them.

"Ah Mr. Weasley, Miss Angkatell," she said. "Mr. Potter and I were just coming to look for you. There's something the three of you have to see."

"What is it, Professor?" I asked as we followed her back up to the castle.

"You'll see when we get there," she said.

I caught Cedric's eye as we left the grounds. He looked panicked, both because he didn't know what could possibly be serious enough to cancel a Quidditch match and because he wasn't sure if I was in trouble or not. I sent him a look that said, "I'll tell you later," and followed Professor McGonagall back inside the school.

She led us up to the hospital wing and said, "I warn you, this may be a wee bit of a shock."

Lying on the nearest bed was a Ravenclaw prefect and on the next was Hermione, both of them still as statues and stone cold. I couldn't suppress the gasp that arose in my throat. I brought my hand to my mouth and tried to stem the flow of tears already beginning.

"No," I kept thinking to myself. "No, no, no, this can't be happening. Why was she attacked? What did she do to deserve this? This is my fault. I should've kept an eye on her. I should've gone to the library with her, I should've made her come to the match with us."

"They were found near the library, along with this," said Professor McGonagall, and she held up a small hand mirror. "Does it mean anything to the three of you?"

"No," we all whispered, trying to come to terms with this shocking truth. We went back to Gryffindor Tower where Professor McGonagall announced that all students were to be escorted to each lesson by a teacher, all evening activities were cancelled until further notice and that we had to be back in the common room by 6:00 every evening. There was general murmuring after she'd left and the gossip mill started again. Who was the Heir of Slytherin? Who would be attacked next? What would be revealed when all the petrified people were revived?

Harry gestured to Ron and I to huddle over in a corner and whispered to us, "we've got to talk to Hagrid. I can't believe it's him, but if he did set the monster loose last time, he'll know how to get inside the Chamber of Secrets and that's a start."

"But you heard McGonagall," said Ron. "We're not allowed to leave the tower except for class."

"I think it's time to get my dad's old cloak out again," said Harry.

"Will we all fit under yours or should I use mine?" I asked. I'd hardly gotten a chance to use my new cloak since Uncle Jerry sent it to me over Christmas. I wish I'd gotten to keep my father's old cloak, but there was no point in using it now. Uncle Jerry wrote me when he sent me the new one saying that all the magic had gone from it and it was nothing more than a bundle of silvery fabric. But he's held on to it for the memories.

"We should fit under mine," said Harry. "We'll go tonight."

Harry went upstairs and got the cloak out of his trunk, hiding it in the folds of his robes so that no one would see it. We sat by the fire until everyone else went to bed and tried to formulate new theories about who the Heir of Slytherin might be, but nobody whose name wasn't Draco Malfoy came to mind. Finally, the last person went to bed and we were able to duck under the cloak and make our way through the castle.

It was a very slow going. The teachers and prefects and Head Boy and Girl were patrolling the halls, looking for anyone out trying to make some mischief. If they thought they were going to catch the Heir of Slytherin or the monster, they were mistaken. They must've known that the Heir would be able to use complex spells to sneak past them, or just take refuge in the chamber. Besides, if the monster is out, the Heir wouldn't have to get his hands dirty.

It was such a relief to make it out of the castle and onto the grounds. We were able to walk much more quickly across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. Harry knocked on the door and Hagrid flung it open, pointing a crossbow directly at us. He relaxed though when we took the cloak off and he saw that it was us.

"What's that for?" asked Harry.

"Nothing, I was just expectin'…doesn't matter," said Hagrid. "Come on, I was just makin' a pot of tea."

"Hagrid, are you okay?" asked Harry, when he saw Hagrid spill the tea everywhere, then nearly drop the cup when he tried to hand it to me.

"Fine," replied Hagrid, but he wasn't fine.

"Did you hear about Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Oh I heard about that all right."

"Look, we have to ask you something," said Harry. He glanced at Ron and I for reassurance and then asked the vital question. "Do you know who's opened the Chamber of Secrets?"

Hagrid sighed and said, "what you have to understand about that is…" but there was another knock at the door. Hagrid whispered to us, "back under the cloak. Don't say a word." We ducked into a corner and Harry draped the cloak over the three of us. Hagrid opened the door but relaxed when he saw Professor Dumbledore at the door, but there was another man with him.

"That's Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic!" I whispered to Harry and Ron.

"Bad business, Hagrid, very bad business," said Fudge. "Four attacks on Muggleborns, things have gone far enough. The Ministry's got to act." Hagrid began protesting his innocence and thankfully Dumbledore stepped in.

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence."

"Albus, look, Hagrid's record is against him. I've got to take him."

"Take me?" asked Hagrid fearfully. "Take me where? Not Azkaban prison?"

"No," whispered Ron. I shared his sentiment. The last place a person wants to go is Azkaban prison. The place is guarded by more than just water on all sides. The guards of Azkaban, the dementors, suck all the happiness out of a place and force you to relive all the worst memories of your life. You don't even need walls to keep the prisoners in, they're trapped inside their own heads. Uncle Jerry had to go there once on an inspection, when he was still young. This was before my parents died. When he got back, he stayed locked in his room for three days, not moving or making a sound. Mom and Dad had to stay with him at all times until he managed to recover from the incident.

There was another rap at Hagrid's door and a very bored drawl said, "already here, Fudge. Good." It was Lucius Malfoy.

"What're you doing here?" asked Hagrid testily. "Get outta my house!"

But it turns out that Malfoy was there to see Fudge, with an order of suspension for Dumbledore.

"That can't be right," I whispered to Harry. "Dumbledore's the only thing keeping the rest of the student population safe. Surely the governors know that or surely my uncle would've stepped in."

"You can't take Dumbledore away!" said Hagrid furiously. "Take him away and the Muggleborns won't stand a chance. You mark my words, there'll be killings next!"

"You really think so?" asked Malfoy nonchalantly, as if the idea had crossed his mind, but he didn't seem perturbed by it, which of course he wasn't.

"Calm yourself, Hagrid," said Dumbledore. "If the governors desire my removal, I shall of course step aside. However, you will find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." His eyes flickered to where the three of us were standing, then he stepped outside with Malfoy.

"If anybody were looking for some stuff, all they'd have to do would be to follow the spiders," said Hagrid. "That's all I have to say. And someone'll need to feed Fang while I'm away."

Once they were gone, the three of us tugged the cloak off and sank down into chairs by the fire, trying to comprehend the situation.

"Hagrid's right," said Ron. "With Dumbledore gone, there'll be an attack a day."

"How can this have happened?" I asked. "How can all the governors have signed that order of suspension? Lucius Malfoy must have coerced them somehow. And how can my uncle have let it happen?"

"What would your uncle have been able to do?" asked Harry perplexed.

"My uncle keeps himself well informed of what happens in this school," I replied to him. "He has an agreement set up with the governors, so that if anything happens and they make a decision on something, he has to know about it. He was going to be a governor himself, but Malfoy got there first. And with how much influence Uncle Jerry has, he's able to override any decision he wants if he doesn't feel it's beneficial to the school."

"You're right, then," said Harry. "How can he have let this happen?"

"Unless it wasn't brought to his attention," I realized. "It's all Malfoy's doing. He's always hated the way Dumbledore runs the school and wants nothing more than to see him lose his position. He would be the one to force the other governors to sign that order, then he made sure he was the one to deliver it so that there was no question of something going wrong. And he didn't tell my uncle, and he made sure no one else did, because he knew Uncle Jerry would never agree to that."

"They're not on good terms, are they?" asked Ron. "Lucius Malfoy and your uncle?"

"No, they never have been," I said. "Uncle Jerry disagrees with just about every word that comes out of Lucius' mouth, especially his Pureblood obsession. Uncle Jerry also knows about Malfoy's intense dislike of Dumbledore. I'd write to him after we get back to the tower, but I don't want to sneak out and to go to the owlery and get Ibbett, and by tomorrow morning he'll know anyway."

But Harry wasn't listening anymore. He was looking at something over by the window. I followed his gaze and saw a line of spiders trickling through a piece of broken glass.

"Come on," said Harry, leaving the cloak on the table and heading out the door.

"What?" Ron croaked out.

"You heard what Hagrid said. Follow the spiders."

"They're heading into the Forbidden Forest," said Ron. He was barely talking properly at this point and I can't say I blamed him. I didn't want to go into the forest either, particularly not for the reason we had. I remembered the stories Harry, Hermione and Neville had told me when they came out of the forest last year after that detention and they still make shivers run down my spine. I was praying to God that I never had to set foot in that place.

Harry and I lighted our wand tips, Ron mumbling why he couldn't light his, and we set off into the woods. As we got further into the dark forest, the trees got thicker, the spiders accumulated and I got very frightened very quickly. Oh all right, I was more than frightened. I was petrified. It was getting harder to walk because all the trees kept closing in around us and we kept losing the trail of spiders. Finally, they darted off the path, which made Harry stiffen. He'd told me after his detention that Hagrid had said never to stray from the path. He took a resolute step forward and followed the spiders, but Ron and I were reluctant to follow him.

We kept going and I eventually grabbed hold of Harry's arm, just because I needed something to hold onto for comfort. He didn't seem to mind though, which I appreciated. Finally, we reached a large hollow and for a moment, there was silence. This had to be the place. The smaller spiders were all over the ground. Then we heard a voice.

"Who is it? Hagrid, is that you?"

"We're friends of Hagrid," said Harry.

We heard the sounds of something large moving towards us and in the middle of the hollow appeared an enormous spider. Ron and I each took a few steps backwards, but Harry stood his ground.

"You're Aragog, aren't you?" asked Harry and I remembered the name from when he told us about when he figured out how to work the diary.

"Yes," said the spider. "Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before."

"He's in trouble," explained Harry quickly. "Up at the school, they think he's the one behind all these attacks. They think he opened the Chamber of Secrets like before."

"That's a lie," said Aragog angrily. "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"So then, you're not the monster?"

"No, the monster was born in the castle. I came to Hagrid from a distant land in the pocket of a traveler."

"But then what did kill that girl fifty years ago?" asked Harry.

"We do not speak of it," said Aragog. "It is an ancient creature that we spiders fear above all others. The girl was discovered in a bathroom. I never saw any part of the castle but the box in which Hagrid kept me. When I was accused, Hagrid brought me here."

It was only then that Harry and I realized how much the spiders had closed in around us. Ron had been staring speechless at them all for several minutes. I don't think he heard one single word of that conversation. But spiders of every shape and size were beginning to swoop down around us and they were all thinking the same thing: it's dinner time.

We tried to make a run for it, but the spiders kept closing in around us, Aragog mentioning that he couldn't deny his children fresh meat. I gulped; this was not how I wanted to die. Harry and I cast a couple spells to make them back off, but it didn't do much good.

"What do we do now?" asked Ron fearfully.

Suddenly, there was a loud roaring noise and a car came speeding down into the hollow and stopped in front of us, its doors flinging open. I heard Ron gasp in relief that his father's car had come to rescue us, but it didn't really register as Fang and I jumped in the backseat, while Harry and Ron got upfront.

Ron took the wheel and drove us out of the forest. He had to use the flying gear to get away from all the spiders, but we managed to get back to Hagrid's hut in one piece. Fang jumped out of the car and into the house, his tail in between his legs. We all went back inside the hut as well, while the car drove itself back into the forest. We sat by the fire to warm up and get our heart rates under control.

"Follow the spiders! Follow the spiders!" said Ron angrily. "If Hagrid ever gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him!"

"Not if I kill him first," I said, just as angrily.

"I mean, what was the point of sending us in there?" asked Ron.

"We learned some information," said Harry. "Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent."

"Do you think what Aragog said about that girl is of any use?" I asked. "He said she died in a bathroom."

"How can that be of any use?" asked Ron. I rolled my eyes at him. He never sees the big picture, let alone how useful small details can be. We didn't say anything else, we just grabbed the cloak and went back up to Gryffindor Tower.

When I got back to the girl's dormitory, I was surprised by the sight of an owl perched on the window. Even in the darkness, I recognized it as Cedric's owl.

"Hello Diana," I said to the owl, opening the window and stroking her brown feathers. She had a letter in her talons and she stretched them out as if offering it to me. I took it from her, but she didn't fly off immediately. Apparently, she'd been told to await a response. I quickly opened the letter. It said:

_Leslie, are you all right? Hermione's been attacked and now they're making us all stay in our dormitories except for class. I can't protect you nearly as well as I'd hoped I'd be able to. Just please don't do anything stupid. Write back to me as soon as you get this and at least tell me you're all right._

I didn't want to think about how long Diana had been sitting outside waiting for me to come in so she could give this to me and I didn't want to think about how distraught Cedric must be. I looked over at the clock. It was almost two in the morning. I wrote a response telling him everything that had happened and I sent it back with Diana, wondering if he would still be awake to read it.

About five minutes later, she came back with another letter. This one said:

_I thought I told you not to do anything stupid! You could've been killed! When are you going to get it into your head that you don't have to go on all these fool errands with Harry and Ron? I know Hermione is your friend and you're just trying to help her, but isn't roaming around the Forbidden Forest at this hour of the night a little extreme? I wish you would've come to get me and we could've gone together._

_As for the other matter, don't worry. I'm sure your uncle has already been contacted about Dumbledore's suspension and will get to work on that right away. You may know him better than I do, but we both know he won't stand for Dumbledore's suspension._

_Let me know if something else happens. And please be more careful!_

_Cedric_

I thought it was sweet that he cared for me so much to send me a response repeatedly telling me not to go looking for trouble. A little overprotective, but sweet. I wrote him a letter back saying that I promised to tell him if something else happened and told him to get some sleep. We both needed it. Diana looked like she wanted to go up to the owlery too and rest. After that, I got you out and wrote this.

I don't know what to do, little diary. Hermione petrified, Hagrid arrested, Dumbledore suspended, it's all too much too quickly. Things are happening much more quickly than I anticipated they would. And if we don't catch the Heir soon, someone will be killed. And my greatest fear is that the Heir will come after us for finding out too much.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so we have the events of about three chapters crammed into one chapter in a fanfiction story. This one took forever for me to write. As I said above, I'm going to finish up _Chamber of Secrets _in the next chapter and then it'll be time for _Prisoner of Azkaban_. I'm wondering where I should start with that one. I don't know if I'll start it at the Leaky Cauldron or at Hogwarts. I'll think about it. Don't forget to review and as always, stay tuned!


	20. May 5th, 2003

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! You know my excuse for taking so long by now, so I'm just going to say I'm sorry and move on. I put in a couple Harry/Leslie moments because thanks to a review I got for the last chapter, I sort of trailed off a bit when I made a mention that Harry had a crush on Leslie. I've also put in a Cedric/Leslie moment to balance it out. This is my longest chapter yet and I hope you enjoy it. I worked hard on it, so good reviews would be nice.

This is last chapter of _Chamber of Secrets_, so next one will be _Prisoner of Azkaban_. We're going to have loads of major Harry/Leslie moments in the next bit and not quite as much Cedric/Leslie. They're going to have a huge fight so not much interaction between Cedric and Leslie, but they'll be back together before too long. I'm going to post another poll on my profile page that I really need you guys to vote on. It's going to be whether or not you think I should write an alternate ending to this once its finished, because this is going to have Cedric and Leslie together at the end, so I'm wondering if I should write an alternate ending where Cedric does die and Leslie gets together with Harry. Tell me what you think. Happy reading!

05-05-2003

Dear Diary,

We've done it! The Heir of Slytherin has been defeated and everyone who was petrified is all right again! Hermione's all right! Everything's all right! I'm a tad excited as you can see.

Perhaps I should explain. The month after the double attack was spent full of students casting furtive glances at one another, particularly at the Slytherin students. But people had finally stopped accusing Harry of being the Heir of Slytherin. Hermione being attacked had squashed those rumors. Ernie McMillan even came up and apologized to Harry for believing he was the Heir, saying he knew Harry would never attack Hermione. They shook hands, forgave and forgot. Ron and I were less inclined to forgive Ernie and the rest of the Hufflepuffs, but Harry said it was all right, so we let it go.

Uncle Jerry was working to get Dumbledore reinstated, but he wasn't able to convince most of the governors to let him back. This was strange for two reasons. 1) Uncle Jerry is friends with most of the governors and some of them owe him favors, yet they wouldn't do it. 2) When he wrote to me telling me about his meeting with them, he said it seemed like they wanted to do as he asked, but were afraid to like someone or something was holding them back. I made a mental note to check on that later after everything had cleared up a bit.

Because we had to be shepherded from class to class by a teacher and return to Gryffindor Tower by 6:00 every night, Harry, Ron and I weren't been able to discuss any possible new theories in private, nor was I able to converse with Cedric. Sometimes he came over to sit with us at breakfast, but could never stay for very long. What we ended up doing was once or twice a week, we'd get one of our owls and send messages back and forth in the dead of night. I wanted to be able to enchant the paper to fly right to Cedric, but I wasn't to that level yet and he said he wasn't very good at that charm and he didn't want to risk it going somewhere by accident, so he said it was safer just to use our owls. We'd most often use Diana because of her very dark plumage, making her hard to see unless you were looking specifically her. We used Ibbett occasionally, but he was easier to spot even if he did have brown feathers. But Cedric never had anything good to tell me.

Finally one night after everyone else had gone to bed, Harry, Ron and I stayed up late to try and come up with new theories.

"We're missing something," said Harry. "I know we're missing something."

"You're right," I said. "You're right, Harry. It's staring us in the face and we aren't seeing it. It's maddening!"

"No it isn't," said Ron. "The detail you two are looking for isn't there."

"What makes you say that?" asked Harry impatiently.

"Because how can there be something we've missed?" asked Ron. "There's nothing else in the diary, nothing that Riddle would tell us at least, and we've lost that anyway. Hermione's been petrified, so she can't find the answer for us and that bloody great spider didn't tell us anything worthwhile either. Face it you two, there's nothing left."

"Oh for God's sake!" I yelled at him. "Honestly Ron, when are you going to open your mind and realize that not only is the answer there, but you won't see it if you keep that attitude? That's what I hate about both of you! You find the option that works for you and in your minds, no other option exists! That's how it was when you thought Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. At least Harry has been more open to ideas since then. You, Ron, have been more of a hindrance than a help these last few months. You haven't come up with any sensible ideas, you just sit there saying the approach Harry and I think is right is pointless. You said there was nothing important about Tom Riddle's diary, then Harry figured out how to work it. Now you think I'm crazy because there's a detail we're missing and I think it's to be found somewhere in what Aragog told us. You were barely even listening to him because you were so afraid of all those spiders. Just because you didn't hear half of what he said, you think everything he said is useless! If there's one thing that useless around here, it's you!"

I dashed upstairs to my dormitory after my rant, grabbed my invisibility cloak and went back downstairs. Harry and Ron were looking at each other stunned, still recovering from how I had yelled at them. They snapped out of it when they saw me moving towards the portrait hole.

"Where are you going?" asked Harry, eyeing the cloak in my arms.

"I'm going for a walk," I said curtly. "I'm tired of being shut up in here."

I slipped the cloak on and went out through the portrait hole without another word. I walked as quickly as I could through the hallways, which wasn't very quickly with all the teachers and prefects around. I made it outside the castle eventually and headed for a little spot on the grounds just beside the forest. It was surrounded by rock, so no one could see me unless they entered the little circle of rock. I only took the cloak off when I was sure I was alone.

I sighed. It felt so good to be outside the castle and to be able to breathe fresh air for once. I knew I'd have to apologize to Ron the next morning, but I didn't want to. I wanted him to change the way he thinks and begin looking at the big picture, to start considering more than one solution to a problem and perhaps to quit being such an idiot, but I really wasn't getting my hopes up on that last one.

I took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself and that's when I heard a voice say, "Leslie?" I looked up to see Harry taking off his own invisibility cloak.

"How did you find me out here?" I asked him.

"I knew you'd go somewhere on the grounds," said Harry. "You're a free spirit, Leslie, you'd want the chance to take the cloak off and walk somewhere uninterrupted and unrestrained. Once I got out here, I followed the sound of your footsteps down here. Nice little place, where did you find it?"

"During our first weeks here last year," I said. "I came out here all the time when I needed to be alone."

"It's a good place to be alone," said Harry. "It's on the other side of the castle from the entrance, the lake and Hagrid's, so no one would come down here very much. Good thinking."

"You too," I said. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"You need someone to talk to," said Harry.

"No I don't," I protested.

"Yes you do. I've seen you these last few weeks, Leslie. Ever since Hermione was attacked, you've been growing more distant, more anxious. It's because you've been trying so hard to figure out what it is we're missing. I knew it was only a matter of time before you verbally lashed out at someone, and when you do that, it's usually either Ron or me that gets our ears chewed off."

"I'm sorry for that," I said. "Wait, _verbally_ lashed out at someone? What makes you think I wouldn't just get my wand out and hex them?"

"Because that's not your style," replied Harry. "When you're angry, you start shouting at the top of your lungs, you don't resort to violence of any kind. That's what I like about you."

I smiled at him and said, "thank you for not taking it personally, Harry."

"I'm never going to take anything you say personally. I know it when you say things you don't mean. It's Ron you're going to have to apologize to. He was saying as I left with my own cloak that he wasn't sure what the big deal was and he didn't understand why you burst out at him like that. I just rolled my eyes at him and left. I think he does see why you shouted, he'd just rather play ignorant than admit you were right and he was wrong."

"That does sound like Ron. Thank you for coming out here, Harry. I really needed someone to talk to."

He was quiet for a minute as though debating something, then he said, "but why do I get the feeling you wish it was Cedric out here comforting you and not me?" He seemed hurt by his own words, but asked anyway as though he felt he had to.

I, on the other hand, was shocked. "Why would you say that?" I asked him. "Cedric's my friend and so are you. I don't care who it is I talk to, you, him, Hermione, just as long as I have someone who's willing to listen to me."

"But you confide in him," said Harry. "You never confide in Ron, Hermione and I, yet we pass on secrets to you. I don't think I know anything about you, Leslie. I don't know what you like and dislike, I don't know anything about your family, I don't know about your past at all. Yet from what Hermione's told me, Cedric knows everything."

"My past isn't something I routinely talk about," I said. "Cedric knows because he was my first friend as a child and we've been friends ever since we met. I've trusted him with all my secrets and he's trusted me with his."

"But do you not trust us?" persisted Harry. "That Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson you skipped? Afterward, Hermione and I were talking and she said you'd had a sister. You never told us you once had a sister. You've never said anything about your parents either."

"It's hard to talk about your parents and sister when they're dead and you never had the chance to know them. You should understand that better than anyone. You can't remember your parents either."

"I was only a year old," he said.

"So was I," I snapped back. "Mine died only a week after yours did."

He paused and said, "I didn't realize the two events were that close together."

"Well they are," I said. "It was because of your defeat of Lord Voldemort that several of his followers attacked my village. They slaughtered everyone in the place. My uncle and I were the only ones who made it out alive and there were close to 100 people living in that village. The Death Eaters took them by surprise and destroyed the first few houses before anyone realized what was happening. By the time a counterattack was organized, half the village was already gone. And all because they were angry that someone had managed to defeat their immortal leader, as they called him."

"How do you know all this anyway?" asked Harry.

"My uncle told me what happened that night when I was nine years old," I replied.

"That's kind of young to find out about it, isn't it?"

"You'd think so, but in truth, I made him tell me what happened. I was sick of having my nightmare for so long and never knowing what it meant, so I told him about it and he gave in and told me what happened the night my parents died."

"Nightmare?" broke in Harry suddenly. "What nightmare are we talking about?"

"I've never told you about my old childhood nightmare?" I asked him. He shook his head. "I really don't tell you anything, do I?"

"No, you don't," he whispered. "Now speak."

I sighed and said, "it's not really a dream at all, it's more of a memory. It's of a little girl, brown hair, six years old, running through the woods with a blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms. It's my sister, Elena, trying to carry me to safety. But a green light comes up from behind her, hits her in the back and she falls to the ground lifeless. I fall out of her arms, land a few feet away and cry my heart out. I see a shadowy figure standing above me, raising her wand hand, then that's when I wake up. I've had it ever since before I can remember. I've grown so used to it that I haven't woken up screaming in years. I still have it once every ten days or so. It comes and goes, I wake up, then go back to sleep and sleep in peace for the rest of the night."

"Is that all you see?" asked Harry.

"Yes," I replied. "I've never really been able to see any faces or any clear details."

"I'm sorry, Leslie," said Harry. "I shouldn't have made you talk about this, I'm sorry."

"It's all right. One day, I will tell you everything. You, Ron and Hermione and we'll all sit down and I'll tell you everything."

"I'll hold you to that," said Harry.

There was a moment of quiet, then I said, "so what do you think it is we're missing?"

"I wish I could tell you," replied Harry. "I think you're right and the answer is in what Aragog told us, but I can't figure out what it was."

"Let's go back over what we know," I said. "The Chamber of Secrets was first opened fifty years ago. We don't know how many Muggleborns were attacked or petrified, we just know that one…died." I could feel the look of comprehension spread across my face and I said aloud, "why didn't we see it before?"

"See what before?" asked Harry.

"Harry, what did Aragog say about that girl fifty years ago?"

"He said she died…in a bathroom," said Harry, the same comprehension now spreading across his face. "Moaning Myrtle. She's the one who died all those years ago."

"Exactly," I said. "She could tell us something about the monster, I know she could."

"Come on," said Harry standing up and beginning to drape the cloak back over himself. "Let's go tell Ron." I put my cloak on as well and we started back for the castle together.

For the next few days, we tried to see if we could sneak away to go and see Moaning Myrtle. But it was too risky to get caught in her bathroom at night and Ron had gone to bed when we got back to the common room, so we just explained everything over breakfast (which was also when I apologized to him) and we began thinking of ways to ditch the teachers and talk to Myrtle. One day we managed to trick Lockhart into letting us go one corridor before our next class, Ron muttering about what an idiot he was, and we snuck off toward Myrtle's place.

"Potter! Weasley! Angkatell! What are you three doing?" It was Professor McGonagall and she did not look please to see us wandering the corridors away from a teacher.

"Professor McGonagall," I said flustered. I racked my brain trying to think up an excuse, but Harry got there first. He told her we were on our way to go and see Hermione and she grew sympathetic and told us that of course we could visit her and gave us special permission so we could get past Madame Pomfrey.

We had no choice but to go to the hospital wing at that point. We went in and walked over to Hermione's bed. Ron was trying to play off how depressed he was, but I could tell that he missed Hermione just has much as I did. Harry pulled up a chair for me and I sat down next to Hermione, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. Harry squeezed my shoulder reassuringly and I reached up for a minute and squeezed his hand back. I think I felt him stiffen a little as he did that, but I didn't really notice at the time.

Then it happened. The breakthrough we'd been waiting for for months finally manifested itself. There was a crumpled piece of paper clenched in Hermione's fist. Ron and I blocked Harry from sight while he tried to get it out of her hand without ripping it. He read it through quickly and a grin I hadn't seen in months appeared on his face.

"This is it," he said. "This is why Hermione was in the library the day she was attacked. She figured it out, all of it. Come on!"

We walked back out into the corridor and Harry began to read the paper aloud to us.

_Of the many fearsome beasts that roam our land, none is more deadly than the basilisk. Instant death awaits any that meets this giant serpent's eye. Spiders flee before it and the crowing of the rooster is fatal to it._

I could see everything falling into place in Harry's mind and he shot me an excited look as he realized we both knew what this meant. Ron was still trying to keep up.

"That's it," he said. "The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk. That's why I've been hearing that voice all over the place, because I can speak Parseltongue."

"It makes sense," I said. "Slytherin wouldn't choose any other sort of creature to guard the Chamber."

"But if it kills by looking people in the eye, why is it no one's dead?" asked Ron.

Harry thought for a minute, then said, "because no one did look it in the eye, not directly at least. Colin saw it through his camera, Justin must've seen it through Nearly Headless Nick. Nick got the full blast of it, but he's a ghost, he couldn't die again. And Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect had the mirror. I'll bet Hermione was going to use it to look around corners in case it came along and warned the first person she saw to use one as well. And Mrs. Norris saw its reflection, through the water on the floor."

I took the paper from Harry and began reading over it as well. "'The crowing of the rooster is fatal to it'?" I asked. "Hagrid reported some roosters being killed earlier in the year. And spiders flee before it, remember what Aragog said that all spiders fear it. You're right Harry, it all fits."

"But how's it been getting around?" asked Ron. "A bloody great snake, someone would've seen it."

"That's a point," I said. "Basilisks easily get up to at least 60 feet. Actually compared to how big some of them can get, 60 feet is actually pretty small."

"Hermione's answered that too," said Harry, pointing at the word written at the bottom of the page. _Pipes_. It was using the plumbing.

"Harry, what if the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in a bathroom?" asked Ron suddenly. "What if it's in…"

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom!" said Harry and I together.

It was then that the situation got even worse. Professor McGonagall's magically magnified voice sounded through the corridors, fear and alarm evident in it, though she did her best to make it sound collected.

"_All students return to their House common rooms at once. All teachers report to the second floor corridor immediately._"

"Now what's happened?" I asked. The three of us set off not for Gryffindor Tower, but for the second floor corridor. We hid ourselves behind a nearby pillar at the same time as McGonagall and Snape appeared in front of the original message, closely followed by the other teachers.

"As you can see, the Heir of Slytherin has left another message," she said. "Our worst fear has been realized. A student has been taken by the monster into the Chamber of Secrets itself." She paused as though trying to hold back her fear. "The students must be sent home. I'm afraid this is the end of Hogwarts."

I tried to look around one of the teachers to see what the Heir had written, but Harry grabbed my shoulders and made me stay behind the pillar. But I was so curious I kept fidgeting. Finally he turned and glared at me, making me settle quickly.

Footsteps came quickly down the corridor and Lockhart appeared beaming. "So sorry, dozed off. What've I missed?"

"A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last," said Snape and even though his face had the same hard, stoic look it always did, I could definitely hear amusement in his voice.

"My…my moment?" asked Lockhart, voice quavering.

"Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is and what's inside it?" asked Snape, who was clearly enjoying watching Lockhart squirm under his gaze. I had to say I was enjoying it as well. If it weren't for the situation being so dire, I would've smirked with the satisfaction of watching Lockhart finally be shot down in his prime. I was doing something I never thought I'd do and silently praising Professor Snape for that.

Lockhart remained silent for several moments after that. Professor McGonagall used the same tone that Professor Snape did and said, "we'll leave you to deal with the monster then, Gilderoy. Your skills after all are legend."

"Very well," said Lockhart, in a voice that I think he thought was confident, but we could all hear the fear behind it. "I'll just be in my office, getting – getting ready." He walked quickly down the corridor, without the usual spring in his step.

"Who is it that the monster's taken, Minerva?" asked Madame Pomfrey.

Professor McGonagall sighed and said, "Ginny Weasley."

My eyes widened in shock and I heard Ron let out a very audible gasp. I stiffened for a moment, afraid one of the teachers had heard it, but thankfully they all went back down the corridor, revealing the message to us at last. It read,

_Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._

"Ginny," whispered Ron in horror. I put a reassuring hand on his arm and squeezed gently but it didn't do much good. He was still trying to take in what had happened. Harry was trying hard to breathe. We were all very fond of Ginny, she was such a nice girl. How could this have happened?

None of us spoke, but we knew what we had to do. We ran straight for Lockhart's office, grateful not to meet anyone on the way there. Personally I doubted Harry's reasons for wanting to go and see him, but we had no other option. We all knew he was so useless he wouldn't be able to get into the Chamber, and I was 100% positive that he had been lying all along and didn't know how to get in. For the longest time, I'd wanted to sneak into his office and dig through his papers to find some sort of proof that he wasn't what he said he was, but with brewing the Polyjuice Potion and Hermione being attacked, it had been driven out of my mind.

"Harry, he isn't going to try and get into the Chamber," I said.

"Why do you say that?" asked Harry bitterly.

"Didn't you see his face?" I asked him. "His lip was trembling and he looked as though he was fighting the urge to cry. A grown man who has faced so many dangers and done so many heroic deeds as he claims to have done wanted to cry at the thought of facing a basilisk. Does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture?"

"You've got a point, Leslie," said Ron. "And if he has done all those things, then he'd be teaching us to do stuff like that too. All he's done is read passages from his books to us, like we don't know how to read on our own."

"There's more than that," I said. Harry stopped to look at me curiously and I said, "once I heard Lavender and Parvati asking him about how he had defeated a couple of those vampires. He kept telling them all the intricate spells he had used on them. You can't defeat a vampire with even the most complex spell. You can only protect yourself by wearing a crucifix and keeping some garlic around and you can only kill one by driving a stake through its heart. Lavender and Parvati lapped it all up, but I just narrowed my eyes at him and moved to ask him why he was making such an obvious mistake. But he saw me coming and made a dash for his office."

"Why would he forget the most basic way to kill a vampire?" asked Ron.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. "He isn't what he says he is. He's a fraud."

"Fraud or not, we need all the help we can get and I doubt any of the other teachers will be able to help us," said Harry. "The only person who really can help us is Dumbledore and he isn't here, so who else are we meant to go to?" He started back up the corridor without another word.

"We're going to Lockhart, the school's biggest, bumbling idiot in our greatest hour of need in the hope he can help us kill a basilisk," I said to myself. "What is this world coming to?"

When we reached Lockhart's office, Harry threw the door open saying we had information for him and were met by a sight that surprised Harry and Ron, but didn't surprise me all that much. In fact, I was fighting back the urge to shout at them, "I told you so!" Lockhart was piling all his belongings into trunks, just throwing them in haphazardly and he wasn't even using his wand either. He was running all over the place trying to get everything at one time.

"Are you going somewhere?" asked Harry eyeing him suspiciously.

"Yes, urgent call, unavoidable," said Lockhart flustered.

"What about my sister?" asked Ron angrily.

"Yes, as to that, most unfortunate," stuttered Lockhart. "No one regrets more than I…"

"Regret? You don't regret leaving like this, I know you don't," I spat at him. "And what's all this 'most unfortunate?' This situation is more than just 'most unfortunate.'"

"Besides, you're the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," said Ron. "You can't go now."

"Well, I must say when I took the job, there was nothing in the job description…"

"You're running away after all that stuff you did in your books?" asked Harry in disbelief.

"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart, and when Harry raised another objection, he said, "my dear boy, do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things."

"You're a fraud, you've just been taking credit for what a load of other wizards have done," said Harry.

"Now where have I heard that before?" I said out loud and Harry gave me a look that said quite clearly, "shut up."

"Is there anything you can do?" asked Ron. I clapped a hand to my forehead. Never ask anyone what they can do best, because they'll always find an excuse to demonstrate it and they'll more often than not demonstrate it on you. I wish Ron would think before he spoke. Lockhart said that he was good at memory charms and that he was going to have to do that to us, but Harry quickly disarmed him and he was forced to come down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with us.

When we got there, Harry asked Myrtle how she died and she said that she was hiding in one of the cubicles when she heard someone enter the bathroom speaking a sort of made-up language. When she unlocked the door to see who it was, she just died and all she remembered was seeing a pair of great, yellow eyes over by one of the sinks. Harry went over to examine it and found a small snake etched on the tap. He then spoke in Parseltongue and the taps all moved aside to show a large gaping hole in the floor which would lead us to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Excellent Harry, now there's no reason for me to stay," said Lockhart, trying to make a dash for it. We, however, made him go down the tunnel first. Actually, Harry and Ron made him go down first, I didn't see the point of making him come down with us, but down the chute he went after Ron gave him a push.

"Leslie, I want you to stay here," said Harry, turning to me.

"What, no!" I said, shocked. I couldn't believe Harry wanted me to stay behind. "You didn't stop me from going after the Sorcerer's Stone, why should you stop me from going down to the Chamber of Secrets as well?"

"Because I don't want the basilisk to hurt you," said Harry. "You'll be safer up here."

"No I won't," I said. "If the Heir of Slytherin wakes that thing up, it'll get the two of you first and then it'll come up this exposed pipe and get me."

"Which is why you aren't staying in the bathroom, you're going to go to Professor McGonagall and tell her everything," said Harry.

"I'm not doing that either," I said. "Do you have a piece of paper and a quill?"

"Why would I?" asked Harry bitterly.

I sighed and used a quick little charm Hermione had taught me that would conjure some parchment out of thin air as well as a quill and ink and I drafted a quick letter to Cedric telling him what we were doing. I then took out a small whistle that I always keep on me, went to the window and blew on it. After a minute, Ibbett appeared on the windowsill, looking curious as to why I had summoned him and not gone up to the owlery to look for him.

"Take this to Cedric," I said. "Go down to the window outside his dormitory and give this to him. Fly off the instant he has it, I won't be able to get a response." He hooted in response and flew off with the parchment. I turned back to Harry and said, "now you have no reason not to take me down there with you."

"Why did you tell Cedric what we were doing?" asked Harry and I couldn't tell if his voice held resentment or jealousy or both.

"Because we need someone to alert the teachers as to what's going on in case we don't come back," I said. "I'm not going to just stay here and wait. I'm going with you and that's final."

Harry sighed and said, "all right, let's go." He turned back to the pipe entrance and jumped down it, Ron after him and I bringing up the rear. I felt the wind push my hair back out of my face and sting my eyes as I fell down the pipe. I hoped that I would stay in this main tunnel, I could see several others branching off of it. But the three of us arrived down at the bottom in one piece. There were many skeletons and pieces of small animals that the basilisk had apparently been feeding on and I knew the boy were trying not to imagine what Ginny would look like. I was trying to keep that image out of my head as well. Lockhart was cowering in the corner, starting at even the smallest shadow.

"Remember, any sign of movement, shut your eyes straight away," said Harry.

He started down the nearest tunnel, Ron and Lockhart after him and I followed last. We all kept our wands at the ready in case the basilisk was lurking around the next corner but we didn't see anything. A few minutes later, we came across a giant snake's skin, meaning that the basilisk had recently molted. Lockhart fell to the ground in a faint at the sight of it. Ron rolled his eyes at him, but I looked at him curiously. There was something wrong with the expression on his face, not blank as it should have been, but more calculated. I realized a second too late what it was.

"Ron, look out!" I shouted, but as I said before, it was too late. Lockhart grabbed Ron's wand out of his hand and stood up. The three of us faced him nervously and we all knew he was getting ready to perform a memory charm on us so that we would go mad down here and he would walk away the triumphant party. He began to perform a memory charm on Harry, but as it was Ron's _broken_ wand he was using, it didn't turn out quite the way he planned.

The next part is a blank. All I remember is Lockhart getting blasted back against the ceiling of the cave and it collapsing around us. We all tried to move out of the way, but then I felt a searing pain in my back and I lost consciousness. I heard someone shout my name and then everything went dark.

I think was I only out for a few minutes before I came to again, but even then, I was only semi-conscious. I felt that searing pain in my back again and I felt a heavy weight on it as well. That's when I realized, a boulder had fallen on top of me. I felt someone push the boulder off of me, but the pain didn't stop. I felt someone run a hand gently down my spine, but even that caused me an enormous amount of pain and I couldn't help but scream. With the amount of pain that was inflicting itself upon my body, I passed out again.

I don't know how long I was out that time, but as the seconds grew longer, it became harder for me to open my eyes and I knew my strength was leaving me. All I knew was that unless someone did something, my time was running out. I heard a voice inside my head just then.

"Don't give in, Leslie," it said. "Don't give in. You have your whole life ahead of you, my darling. Stay alive for your friends, for Harry, for Hermione, for Cedric, and especially for your uncle. Hold on, my child, hold on."

I wondered who it was speaking. It was so calm, so soothing, making me feel warm and safe, safer than I'd ever felt in my entire life. I'd only felt that way once before, when I was dreaming of what my life would be like if my family was still alive. I think it was my mother's voice, coming to me from a distant corner of my memory. That may be what a near-death experience will do to you, force to the surface of your mind your most treasured memory, which would definitely be when my mother last spoke to me. And that was enough to give me the strength to hold on to what little grasp of consciousness I still had.

Then the strangest sensation came over me. I felt something wet seep through my clothes and drip onto my skin. Whatever this liquid was, it felt wonderful. It was warm and unlike everything else, didn't hurt me when it touched me. In fact, it was soothing, and it made me breathe easier for a moment. A shiver ran down my spine as another droplet seeped through my robes onto my back, but I didn't feel any pain caused by it. As more of it touched my skin, I felt the pain begin to numb and I felt my strength returning to me. After another minute, I opened my eyes to see Harry and Ron looking down at me worriedly. Harry had his hand wrapped securely around mine and I glanced over at it before smiling up at the two of them.

"Hey guys," I whispered, still not sure if I had the strength to talk properly yet.

Harry grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me up into a hug. He took several deep breaths and was shaking and I knew he was reassuring himself that I was all right and would heal. He pulled away from me reluctantly and whispered, "don't ever do that again."

"I won't," I whispered back.

Ron reached up to give me a hug next and said, "you scared us to death, Leslie."

"Sorry Ron," I said. It was then I noticed another redhead looking worriedly at me. "Ginny!" I said in relief. I reached for her as well and we embraced each other. "Are you all right?" I asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said back.

"I'm fine, you can't get rid of me that easily," I said.

There was a soft cooing sound next to me and I saw a bird with beautiful red and gold plumage walking up to me, it was a phoenix. I remembered what Uncle Jerry had told me about phoenixes, how they can carry immensely heavy loads and their tears have healing powers.

"Was it you who helped me?" I asked it. It cooed as if to say yes.

"This is Fawkes," said Harry. "He's Professor Dumbledore's bird."

I reached out as if to stroke his head, then paused and asked, "may I?" He rubbed his head against my hand affectionately and I stroke his beautiful plumage and whispered to him, "thank you for saving my life. And thank you for coming to Harry's aid as I'm sure you did." He made another cooing sound as if to say, "you're welcome."

I looked seriously at them all and said, "not a word to my uncle about this incident, is that understood?"

"Why not?" asked Ron. "He has a right to know you almost died."

"I don't want him to know," I replied. "It's bad enough he probably already knows about us coming down here. If he finds out a boulder almost crushed my back, he'll never let me out of the house again."

"All right, Leslie," said Harry. "We won't say anything to your uncle."

It was then I realized that someone was missing. "Where's Lockhart?" I asked.

Ron suppressed a chuckle at the mention of Lockhart. He gestured back down the tunnel and said, "his memory charm backfired, so he hasn't got a clue who he is. I told him to go and wait down there."

We all walked down the tunnel together, Ron with his arm around Ginny and Harry with an arm around me. I didn't mind so much, though I was glad Cedric wasn't here to see that. Lockhart was waiting by the pipe entrance, looking around with a vague, airy nature.

"This is an odd sort of place, isn't it?" he asked. "Do you all live here?"

"No we don't," I said, trying to sound serious but resisting the urge to laugh. Fawkes flew down in front of the pipe entrance, we all joined hands and he flew us back up the pipe. When we reached the bathroom, we all headed for Professor McGonagall's office, knowing that she would be up at this hour comforting the Weasley's, and also because Fawkes was leading us there for some reason.

When we got there, we found Professor McGonagall standing by the fireplace, handing Mr. and Mrs. Weasley each a cup of tea. Sitting behind her desk was Professor Dumbledore. They all looked up as we came in.

"Ginny!" screamed Mrs. Weasley in relieved delight. She and Mr. Weasley grabbed their daughter in a hug, both fighting back the tears that were beginning to spill from their eyes. Mrs. Weasley then hugged Harry, Ron and I in turn thanking us over and over again.

I heard someone else say, "Leslie!" and I felt a pair of arms wrap around me as well. It was Cedric. His face was chalk white and there were bags under his eyes. It looked as though he'd been up all night worrying about me.

"Are you all right?" he asked me, taking my face gently in his hands.

"I'm fine," I said. "Don't worry about me, Cedric."

"As soon as we get some time on our own, I intend to inspect you for injuries," he said and I rolled my eyes at how overprotective he was.

Harry then told the entire story to Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore and I found out what had happened down in the Chamber. Apparently, Tom Riddle was the Heir of Slytherin. The one we believed had closed the Chamber was the one who opened it in the first place. He then made that diary, which it turned out Ginny had stolen from Harry's room, to preserve his sixteen-year-old self in its pages so that one day he might finish the job. Harry had a confrontation with Riddle apparently and he revealed that not only was he the Heir of Slytherin, but he was also Lord Voldemort! I couldn't believe it. Then after something Harry said, Fawkes showed up to help him, carrying the Sorting Hat with him. It was only then that I realized Harry had the Sorting Hat and a sword with him. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before but I supposed I was still a bit disoriented from having my back broken. He said that after Riddle called the basilisk, the sword appeared out of the hat and he had used it to kill the giant snake after Fawkes had blinded it so that he wasn't in danger of being stared down by the thing. But one of the fangs pierced Harry's arm and the basilisk venom began to spread through one of his veins. Fawkes healed his arm and then Harry used that same fang to destroy the diary, which in turn destroyed Riddle.

"So you've had that diary with you all this time?" I asked Ginny.

She nodded. "I found it inside one of the books Mom got me. I thought someone had just put it there and forgotten about it."

I nodded sympathetically. She had written in it, Riddle had written back and she got taken in by him. He was able to manipulate her and as she wrote more, he gained more strength until finally he was able to come up out of the diary and take a shape. But now that the diary has been destroyed, everything is all right.

After Harry finished telling the story, Professor Dumbledore said, "Minerva, would you go downstairs and alert the kitchens? I believe this calls for a feast. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, why don't you take your daughter upstairs to the hospital wing? With bed rest and hot chocolate, she should be as good as new." With a sideways glance at Lockhart, he said, "perhaps you should take Professor Lockhart up to the hospital wing as well." He asked Cedric to leave the office, but I knew he'd wait for us outside so that he could speak to me in private.

He then said to Harry, Ron and I after the others left, "you three realize that in the past few hours you've broken perhaps a dozen school rules?"

"Yes sir," we all said quietly.

"And I seem to remember telling the two of you," he looked at Harry and Ron here, "that if you were found breaking more rules I would have no choice but to expel you."

I looked at him fearfully. I didn't want him to expel Harry and Ron, but I didn't want to be expelled either. Uncle Jerry would die of shame if that happened and I wouldn't be able to face him after that.

"Therefore it is only fitting that you all receive special awards for services to the school and 200 points apiece for Gryffindor."

I breathed a deep sigh of relief and we all said thank you. He nodded and then said, "now Mr. Weasley, if you would have an owl deliver these release papers to Azkaban. I believe we need our gamekeeper back." Ron turned and ran out of the office, before I could suggest to him to use either Hedwig or Ibbett, instead of poor Errol.

"Miss Angkatell, I believe Mr. Diggory is waiting outside to speak with you. Why don't you go and put his mind at rest, then go on up to the hospital wing. Miss Granger should be awake at any time now."

I nodded, looking back at Harry as the door shut and he nodded at me saying that he would tell me whatever Dumbledore had to say later. The instant I stepped outside the office, I felt Cedric's hand on my arm steering me quickly down the hallway. He was still pale and shaking, but it had subsided with the knowledge that I was still alive and well. He took me upstairs to our normal conference room and locked the door. He then went around the room, lighting a few of the candles, then brought me over to stand by the window, so there was enough light to see by.

"Cedric, what are you doing?" I asked as he gently turned my face to one side, then the other.

"I'm doing what I said I was going to do and inspecting you," he replied. He then tilted my face upward, exposing my neck. His fingers ran gently down over my neck and around the back of it. "Does anything hurt?" he asked anxiously, rubbing my shoulders to see if I reacted to pain. My shoulders were rock hard from all the tension that had been building up in my body over the past few weeks, making me hope that if I reacted to pain, he'd be able to tell the difference between an injury and the need for a massage.

"Nothing hurts, I'm fine," I said, but he still continued to run his hands down my right arm, adding slight amounts of pressure at different points, which told me he was looking for broken bones. "You know you can trust Madame Pomfrey to find something wrong with me if there is anything."

"I know, but I both want and need to find out for myself," he said, his hands now making their way down my left arm.

"I'm not hurt Cedric, everything's fine," I said exasperatedly as he gently turned me around and began running his fingers up and down my back. I was getting a little tired of this and I wanted to go up to the hospital wing and see Hermione, but I knew he wouldn't let me go until he was satisfied.

But that's where it all went downhill. As his fingers hit the spot where the boulder had done the worst damage, I inhaled sharply feeling the dull throbbing in that area peak just a bit.

"What is it?" he asked anxiously. "You are hurt, aren't you? Tell me now, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I just hurt my back in the Chamber, but that phoenix in Dumbledore's office patched me right up. It's just a little sore that's all."

"What happened?" I didn't answer. He jerked my shoulders around so I had to face him and said in a more urgent voice, "what happened?"

I sighed and said, "when the ceiling caved in, a boulder hit me in the back and I blacked out for the entire time Harry was in the Chamber."

Poor Cedric, I thought he was going to have a heart attack right then and there. He turned even paler if that was possible and started breathing extremely heavily. His eyes widened in shock and he began stuttering out different things so quickly, I wasn't even sure a coherent thought was forming in his mind.

"B…boulder…your…b…back…c…could…have been….k…killed…what the hell were you thinking!" Needless to say, that loud comment after so much stuttering took me by surprise. "A boulder landed on your back, you're lucky it didn't completely crush your spine! I should've been there, that should've been me, not you."

"There wasn't anything you could've done," I argued.

"Yes, there was," he said angrily and I couldn't tell whether he was angry at me or at himself. "I should've been standing next to you, I should've pushed you out of the way and I should've had my back broken instead. I can't believe I let this happen."

"You didn't let this happen, you had no way of knowing that I was going to be down in the Chamber until I sent you that letter and even then, you wouldn't have been able to get down there and see me laying on the ground like that."

He took me in his arms and buried his face in my shoulder, obviously trying to calm down. "Why is it you never tell me when you're about to do something like this?" he asked, his voice muffled because it was still pressed against my shoulder. He pulled back and said, "you didn't tell me about the Stone, you went down that trapdoor on the third floor with the others, leaving me up here to worry that you were going to kill yourself. Then you sneaked off to the Forbidden Forest a month ago and now this? When are you going to let me come along and let me protect you?"

"Because I can protect myself or are you under the impression that I can't?"

"What do you mean?"

"You worry about me constantly, you follow me around every time something happens, you ask to come along not because you want to help but to make sure I don't get hurt. Do you think I'm so incompetent I can't take care of myself?"

"I don't think that at all," he said, shocked that I would believe such a thing. "It's just that I can't lose you, Leslie. You're one of very few true friends I have in this place."

"What do you mean? You have loads of friends."

"That's what most people think. Honestly, I don't really have anyone I can talk to, anyone I can confide in. All my so called friends are gossips, who think I'm just a useless, pretty boy without much brains. Everyone else thinks I'm just a Hufflepuff and won't get anywhere in the world."

"That isn't true," I said. "You're an intelligent, kind, caring, absolutely wonderful person."

"See, that's what I lo…like about you," he said, but I still caught the fact that he had been going to say something else. "You see the real me. You know when there's something wrong or when something's on my mind, you just know. You're the only one I can really confide in. I can't lose you, I won't."

I took his face in my hands and whispered, "you won't. Now come upstairs with me. I want to see if Hermione's awake."

He put his arm around my shoulders and we walked upstairs together. When we got to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey was administering the Mandrake Draught to all those who had been petrified. She had sort of a hard time giving it to Nearly Headless Nick, him being a ghost and all, but it worked somehow. Colin Creevey was looking around at everyone, wondering what the heck was going on, Justin Finch-Fletchely was sitting with Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbott, talking animatedly with them and believe it or not, Percy Weasley was sitting with that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater, holding her hand and running his hand through her dark hair. Madame Pomfrey was beginning to lean over Hermione.

I broke away from Cedric's arm and hurried over to my friend's side. I held my breath as the potion was tipped into her mouth. I felt Cedric rub soothing circles into my back to calm me down, but I couldn't concentrate on being calm. My every thought was on Hermione. After a few minutes, I saw the color return to her skin as her circulation got going again and her fingers began to twitch. Her eyes then quickly shut and she took a deep, ragged breath.

"Hermione," I asked quietly. Her eyes fluttered open again and she looked over at me, a smile spreading across her face.

"Hey Leslie," she said hoarsely; she needed to get in the habit of using her voice again. "What's been going on?"

"Wait until you hear it," I said, finally letting out the breath I had been holding. I reached up and squeezed Cedric's hand and he squeezed back, telling me that he was glad I was all right and that Hermione was all right.

"I'll leave you two to talk," he said. "It's good to have you back, Hermione."

"Thank you," she whispered.

We sat together and talked for about twenty minutes before we went down to the feast together. Dumbledore had told Madame Pomfrey to allow all the basilisk victims to go to the feast, though we all could tell she wasn't happy about it. I finished telling Hermione the story just as we reached the Great Hall. She couldn't believe her ears when I told her that Lockhart was a fraud; she just kept insisting that we had made a mistake. I rolled my eyes and knew that I'd have to find a way to prove to her that I was right, then I got an idea that I executed later.

When we entered the Great Hall, it was a sight I couldn't believe. Everyone was in their pajamas, all talking animatedly, finally free and light-hearted. Harry and Ron were down at the Gryffindor Table, talking with Seamus and Dean. They looked up when they saw us enter the hall. The two of them stood up and smiled at us, well, I should say smiled at Hermione. She ran down the hall and threw her arms around Harry's neck. He hugged her back, smiling widely. I started down the hall to join them, giggling as she started to hug Ron, then pulled back and shook his hand instead.

"Welcome back, Hermione," he said.

"It's good to be back," she said. "Congratulations, I can't believe you solved it!"

"Well, we had loads of help from you," said Harry.

"Thanks," said Hermione. Professor McGonagall then called for attention and the four of us sat down at the Gryffindor Table, still smiling.

Dumbledore stood up and said, "before we begin our banquet, please give a round of applause for Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey, whose Mandrake Draught was so successful on all those who had been petrified." There was a large round of clapping and cheering from everyone except the Slytherins. Dumbledore continued, "also, as a school treat, all exams have been cancelled."

"Oh no," said Hermione, but she was the only one. All the rest of us were so glad to hear that, that we stood up and cheered for Dumbledore, glad to hear him say that and glad to have him back in general.

The doors to the Great Hall opened up and Hagrid marched in, looking as happy as could be that he was back at Hogwarts. We spent the rest of the evening just celebrating and only went to bed after the food was gone and when we felt we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. Hermione and I went up to the dormitory together and I had the first proper, relaxing, dream-free sleep I'd had in months.

I slept in the next morning, most people did, but once I was up, I just couldn't go back to sleep. Then I had an idea on how to occupy myself. I quickly dressed and pulled my invisibility cloak out of my trunk. I slipped it on and hurried through the corridors to Lockhart's office. I quickly dug through his things, searching for something I was almost positive would be there. Finally, when I went through several rows of books, I found it: a diary. It was a record of all the wizards Lockhart had cheated out of their success. I quickly wrapped it in some paper, wrote a quick note and called for Ibbett.

"Take this to Professor Snape," I said. "Leave it outside his office or something."

He hooted once, then flew off. I knew technically I should've given it to Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall, but I knew Snape would give it the attention it deserved, meaning that it got published and everyone knew what an enormous fraud Lockhart was. I smiled as I slipped the cloak back on and went back upstairs. Harry was sitting in one of the chairs by the fire, looking content finally.

"What are you up to?" I asked as I took the cloak off.

"I was just thinking," he said. "Where have you been?"

"Getting proof that Lockhart was a fraud," I said. "I sent it to Professor Snape, he'll know what to do with it."

"Good job," said Harry approvingly.

"So what were you thinking about?"

"What Dumbledore said last night. You see Leslie, the reason I doubted I wasn't the Heir of Slytherin was because the Sorting Hat considered putting me in Slytherin."

"What?" I asked shocked.

"And when I was down in the Chamber, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between Riddle and me," he continued. "So I thought I should be in Slytherin, but then I remembered that the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor because I asked not to go in Slytherin. Then Dumbledore picked up the sword I used to kill the basilisk and had me take a look at it. The name Godric Gryffindor was engraved on it, proving that I belong in Gryffindor after all."

"This is where you belong, Harry," I said. "Never forget that."

"I won't," he assured me. "Hogwarts is my home and Gryffindor Tower is the only place in this castle I could possibly live. Don't worry, Leslie, I'm here to stay."

We all packed up to go home later that day and we walked down to the carriages together. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all got in a compartment on the Hogwarts express, all our luggage safely stowed away. Fred and George Weasley came in and joined us for a little while, as did Cedric and two of his Hufflepuff friends. We all played a couple games of Exploding Snap and practiced disarming each other by magic. Harry was getting very good at it. Cedric wasn't too bad either and I started to get the gist of it just as the train pulled into King's Cross.

We all got our luggage out and made our way through the barrier back into the Muggle world. Uncle Jerry was waiting there for me, as were the rest of our families. Harry looked with some disdain at his aunt and uncle waiting for him and Hermione hugged us all goodbye before walking over to join her parents. I said goodbye to everyone before walking up to my uncle and giving him a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

"I hear the Heir of Slytherin was caught," he said as we made our way home. "I take it you had some hand in it."

"You could say that," I said, and I told him everything that had happened, leaving out the part of me nearly getting crushed by a boulder.

"I've got something that might interest you," he said. "Apparently, Lucius Malfoy wanted Dumbledore gone so badly that he threatened to curse many of the governor's families if they didn't agree to suspend him."

"What?" I asked. "I didn't think he'd stoop that low to get rid of Dumbledore."

"Apparently he did, and for that reason, he's been sacked as a school governor. And guess who's taken his place."

I cried out in joy and threw my arms around his neck. "Uncle Jerry, that's wonderful! You're a school governor!"

"That's right," he said smiling. "Now I can have direct influence on decisions regarding the school as opposed to just hearing about it and deciding if it's good or not."

"You'll make a wonderful governor," I said.

"Thanks darling," he said to me.

We made our way to flat in Kensington and spent the rest of the afternoon just chatting about how our years had gone. It was so hard for me to believe that I hadn't seen him since August. I had every intention of coming home for Christmas this year though; I didn't like spending it without him, even though I was with my friends.

It's been a whirlwind year, but we made it through. I think it's time I got some rest. I want to get another proper sleep. Sweet dreams little diary.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so that's the end of _Chamber of Secrets_. I had to put that scene where Leslie shouted at Ron, I just had to. But it's something that's always bugged me about Ron, that he can't see the big picture. Besides, it gave me the opportunity to put in a Harry/Leslie moment. I also had to put in that part where Cedric inspected Leslie for injuries, because that just seems to me like the kind of thing he'd do.

Next time, we're going to start on _Prisoner of Azkaban_. Definitely going to have some info about Leslie's summer, Sirius Black's escape from prison, Leslie meeting up with Harry, Ron and Hermione in Diagon Alley and I'm not sure what else yet. Just keep reading and keep this on your story alerts.

Please remember to vote on the poll when you get a chance. I really can't decide if Leslie should be with Harry or she should be with Cedric, so I'm really thinking I should write it both ways. Tell me if you think that's a good idea, to end this story with her being with Cedric, since I already said at the beginning that he would live, and then write an alternate ending that puts her with Harry. Vote and please review while you're at it. I'll have the next chapter up ASAP. Stay tuned!


	21. September 3rd, 2003

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! I can't believe it's been so long since I last updated. I'm sorry for that, but I just finished my sophomore year in college and I needed a break. But I've been working on this for the last few days and I finally have it ready to post.

This is the first chapter that takes place during _Prisoner of Azkaban_. Most of it takes place during the summer, which Leslie spends with her uncle and with Hermione, and it details the first day of classes. I had a lot of fun writing the part about the dementor on the train because I really got to think up details that are in Leslie's head that she didn't know were there. You'll see what I mean when you get to the italicized portion of the chapter, it's the part where she's trapped in her own memories, courtesy of the dementor. I'm not going to give away too much right this second. Happy reading!

09-03-2003

Dear Diary,

To say yesterday was an eventful first day of classes would be an understatement. It was an eventful summer as well. When I got home, Uncle Jerry announced that he was taking me on my own little European tour and we spent the entire summer travelling from place to place. After I returned home from school, he let me have a week to rest and unwind before we left for Dublin to visit some friends. Many of our ancestors were from Ireland and came to live in London for reasons of their own. I think others immigrated to America, which gives me the hope that I might have family there someplace, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Like I told you before, Uncle Jerry's done as much research as he can into our family and he and I are the only ones left.

But we had a good time all the same. Our friends took us all over Dublin to some of the best tourist attractions for both wizards and Muggles. They even drove us to Wicklow to see Powerscourt House and Gardens, which were breathtaking and we took a few days to go to Galway as well. I've always loved Ireland. I could spend the rest of my life sitting in the Irish countryside and never get tired of it.

We spent about a month in Ireland, then moved onto Barcelona and Madrid, then after three weeks total in both places, we went to Paris. I had been corresponding regularly with Hermione and when I learnt that she was to be spending part of her summer in France, we arranged to meet and spend a few weeks together in Paris. She had already been in Paris for two weeks when Uncle Jerry and I arrived, and she was there waiting for us at the train station. We ran to each other and embraced each other.

"Leslie, it's so good to see you!" she said.

"It's great to see you too," I said back. "How's your summer been?"

"Wonderful, I've been looking forward so much to coming to Paris. I've always wanted to travel, but my parents have never really had time for it with their dental practice."

"I know, Uncle Jerry usually only travels for business. When he told me he was going to take me travelling on the continent all summer long, I thought it was a dream come true."

It was then that I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Granger standing a few feet away apprehensively. I think it was the fact that Uncle Jerry was there, a full-fledged wizard, not just me.

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger, it's good to see you again," I said, shaking hands with them.

"Hello again, Leslie," said Mrs. Granger, smiling kindly.

"Is this your father?" asked Mr. Granger, gesturing at Uncle Jerry.

"My uncle," I replied.

Uncle Jerry extended his hand and said, "Gerald Angkatell. Most just call me Jerry."

"Pleasure," said Mr. Granger, shaking his hand, though still somewhat nervously.

We had a very good time actually. Once the Grangers warmed up to having Uncle Jerry around, they got along quite splendidly. Uncle Jerry keeps up with the Muggle news almost as much as he reads the _Daily Prophet_, though he knows which articles in the _Prophet_ to avoid, so he and Mr. Granger were able to have several conversations about the state of things in England, the Prime Minister, Parliament, everything the Muggles are concerned with.

Hermione and I spent most of our time sightseeing and shopping. She had already seen a great many of the sights in Paris, but willingly went to see them again with me. We spent an entire afternoon in Notre Dame Cathedral and the next one in the Louvre. We just had fun together, catching up on our summers, neither of us worried about Harry this time; he had been responding to our letters this time.

"You know Harry's birthday is coming up soon," said Hermione, one day while we were doing some shopping. We'd been to most of the Muggle shops and now we were looking around the Parisian version of Diagon Alley. There is a school of magic in France called Beauxbatons, which is supposed to be really prestigious. We saw a group of people whom I assumed attended school there. I stopped to think on Hermione's words for a moment and realized it was the 28th of July. Harry's birthday, the 31st, was in a few days.

"You're right," I said. "I haven't even thought about a present for him."

"I've gotten him a kit to take care of his broom," said Hermione. "But come with me. I'll show you something I found the day before you arrived. I think this might be a good gift for you to give him."

She led me into one shop and tried to speak in French to the salesclerk. I stopped her and asked her what it was she wanted. When she told me, I asked the clerk in perfect French to retrieve it for us. He smiled at me, relief shining in it, and I could tell he spent most of his summer days trying to figure out what British tourists who couldn't speak French were asking of him. He came back a minute later to show us a small mirror, possibly 5"x8" with a silver frame. I didn't see what was so special about it.

"_Qu'est ce que c'est?_" I asked him and even Hermione could tell I was asking what it was. The clerk responded by telling me it was a Foe Glass. I looked into it and I saw blurred shapes passing through it. I could tell they were people, but they were so blurry I couldn't make out any faces. He explained to me that it was a way of telling who your enemies were and how close they were to you. I liked it at once and I knew Harry would find it useful.

"_Je vais acheter,_" I said and he smiled at making a sale. One good thing about France was that they took Galleons and Sickles as well as in England, so I didn't have to worry about currency. In Muggle France and Spain, I had to learn how to count in Euros, which made things slightly easier, because I didn't have to deal with francs and pesetas, but I was used to British pounds and wizard money.

He wrapped it before I paid for it, then I got an idea. I said, "_en fait, Monsieur, puis-je avoir deux?_" He nodded at me and went to get another one.

"What did you say, Leslie?" asked Hermione.

"I asked him if I could have two," I said. "One will go to Harry and I'd like one myself. Do you want one as well?"

"No thanks," said Hermione. "I'm not sure I have any enemies to speak of."

"Fine," I said. "But don't come crying to me when an unknown enemy tries to harm you." The clerk handed me my purchases at that moment, I paid him fifteen Galleons, said, "_Merci Monsieur, allez au revoir_," and left the store. Hermione and I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping before dropping our purchases off at the hotel and dressing up to meet her parents and my uncle for dinner at a very nice restaurant.

The next morning, Hermione got a copy of _The Daily Prophet_ and we saw to our delight an article about the Weasley's.

"This is incredible," I said. "Listen to this, 'Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual _Daily Prophet_ Grand Prize Galleon Draw.' Hermione, they won 700 Galleons and are spending it on a holiday in Egypt."

"That's wonderful," said Hermione. "Lord knows they need the money."

"Uncle Jerry's offered to help, but they won't hear of it," I said. "I'd give them my inheritance right now if it weren't for the fact that I can't touch it until I'm 21. Uncle Jerry can't touch it either since it's not technically his."

"They should spend their money on something they need," said Hermione. "New school supplies, house supplies, something useful."

"You're the only one who would do that, Hermione," I said. "Most people would spend it on an exotic vacation. And Egypt sounds fascinating. The ancient pharaohs, the pyramids, the Valley of the Kings, how the ancient wizards there affected the life of the people. I must tell Uncle Jerry to take me there next year."

"I might have to go with you," said Hermione. "It'd be good to get out of England more."

"When are you going back?" I asked.

"Next Monday, six days" replied Hermione. "I had a letter from Ron saying he was going to be in London the last of week of summer and I thought we could meet up with him and Harry in Diagon Alley, but I'll be back long before then. Why do you ask?"

I smiled as I thought of the suggestion Uncle Jerry had given me the night before. "Because Uncle Jerry and I are leaving for Munich a few days after that and we were both wondering if you'd like to come with us."

Surprise filled Hermione's face. "You want me to go to Germany with you?" she asked. I nodded. "What about my parents?"

"They're more than welcome to come along. Uncle Jerry actually spoke with them about it last night after we went to bed.'

"I don't know if they will, they have a dental practice. But I'd love to come if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

I put my hand on top of hers and said, "no trouble at all. We'd just be glad to have your company." She squealed and we hugged each other, hoping that her parents would say yes.

As luck would have it, they did and eight days later, we were on a train bound for Germany. We spent the last three weeks of vacation touring the place, learning about the Muggle and wizard history of the city and doing even more shopping. We had sent Harry his birthday gifts before leaving Paris and hoped he was doing all right.

It was a surprise actually. The night before his birthday, I was fixing my package and a letter to Ibbett's leg, hoping he was up for a long journey back to England, when Hedwig turned up. Hermione had been wondering how she would get Harry's present to him, since Ibbett couldn't carry both. I was about to ask Uncle Jerry if we could use Horatio, when Hedwig appeared at our bedroom window. We gave her some water and some grain and Hermione tied her package to Hedwig's leg. She and Ibbett flew off together and I knew Harry's presents would get to him all right.

The next morning, Ibbett returned with two letters, one for me and one for Hermione. They were our Hogwarts letters. Also enclosed were permission forms for our parents to sign that would allow us to visit the village of Hogsmeade, which is just a few minutes' walk from the school. Uncle Jerry signed mine, Mr. Granger signed Hermione's and we sent them back to the school. A few days later, Hermione and I were bound for Germany.

But the day we got our letters was when a worry fell over Uncle Jerry. He tried to pretend it was nothing, but I know him better than anyone else and I could tell something was bothering him. I especially knew something was wrong when he hid that morning's issue of the _Prophet_ from Hermione and I. After we got on the train for Munich, Uncle Jerry spent much time looking out the window, lost in thought.

"Uncle Jerry, what's the matter?" I asked. "You've been acting strange these last few days. Is something wrong?"

"No, my darling, nothing's wrong," he said.

"You know I can see right through you," I said. "Please don't lie to me, because I don't lie to you, and I hate knowing something's wrong with you." Hermione didn't say anything, but she knew something was up too, and she gazed at Uncle Jerry, imploring him with her eyes to tell us.

He sighed and said, "all right. Read this." He handed over a copy of the _Daily Prophet._ It was the issue he had hidden from us. On the front cover was a picture of a man with a sunken, gaunt face and matted hair. He looked almost mad. I almost thought he was except the look in his eyes betrayed it. You could tell just from that look that he wasn't mad at all. It was a very contradictive face.

"Who is it?" asked Hermione.

"Actually, now that I think about it, he looks familiar," I said.

"That's because you've seen pictures of him," said Uncle Jerry. "Old school pictures of him when your father and I were at Hogwarts."

I gave a small gasp as I recognized him. I looked at the headline and saw that the name matched the face, but I couldn't believe it. "That's Sirius Black?" I asked. "That couldn't be him. He looks so different than in the photos we have of him."

"He's been in Azkaban for 12 years, Leslie," said Uncle Jerry. "It will change a person."

"Who is he?" repeated Hermione, looking between us confusedly.

Uncle Jerry looked at her, then said simply, "read the article."

The two of us turned our attention to the paper, but neither of us could believe what we read. It said:

_Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today._

"_We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm."_

_Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis._

"_Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it – who'd believe him if he did?"_

_While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse._

I looked up at Uncle Jerry and said, "he murdered thirteen people with one curse?"

"I'm afraid so, my dear," he replied. "He was one of Voldemort's most faithful supporters, apparently. It was a great shock, not just what he did, but the fact that he did it. Your parents and I couldn't believe it. We'd known Black at school, all three of us. We didn't know him very well, mind you, he was in Gryffindor with his group of friends, while your father and I were in Hufflepuff and your mother in Ravenclaw, but we knew them, yes."

"How well did you know them?" asked Hermione.

"Personally, about as well as the rest of the school knew them, in those days anyway," said Uncle Jerry. "He and his friends were a large group of troublemakers." I noticed then that Uncle Jerry kept referring to them as his friends, never actually specifying who those friends were. He continued, "the rest we heard from Lily Evans, or Lily Potter as she became later."

"Harry's mother?" I asked.

"Yes," said Uncle Jerry. "She and your mother were the best of friends. In fact, I've compared you and Hermione to the two of them multiple times. You're almost exactly the same. Leslie, you have your mother's common sense, while Hermione has the intellect that Lily had. They even had similar names, Lily Evans and Lydia Christianson. You'd have thought they were twins. Both were extremely kind as well, just as the two of you are, when you're not in foul moods that is. It broke Lydia's heart when she found out her best friend was dead." He continued, "Lily Evans was in Gryffindor, but tried to avoid Sirius and his lot."

"Who were his lot?" asked Hermione.

"No one you need to be concerned with," said Uncle Jerry, but he was hiding something and we could both tell it, but he said it in such a way that I knew he wasn't going to say anymore. When Hermione tried to ask him again, I shook my head at her and she took the hint.

But he did say one more thing. "Black is still in England, so that's why I'm breathing easy for now. But upon our return, I'm not letting you go anywhere alone until you're back in school, Leslie."

"Uncle Jerry, you know I can't live like that," I said.

"I know it's not your style, but I don't want you to have a run in with Black, even if it's pure coincidence. He's dangerous and I won't let him near you."

"And I'm guessing you're going to contact Cedric and ask him to follow me like a shadow from class to class?"

"I wasn't going to, but I could, I suppose. I asked him once before you set off for your first year and from what I heard, he did a good job of it. You just didn't tell him when you were about to do something dangerous, so he wasn't there to protect you. With Black around though, I suspect he'll take it on himself to see that you're safe."

"I wish he wouldn't, I don't want him to get hurt either," I said.

"I don't think he cares too much about that, Leslie," said Hermione. "He cares about you."

"She's right," said Uncle Jerry. "In fact, I think he more than just cares for you."

"All right, you two, quit imagining things," I said. "If you don't, Hermione, I'll hex your next homework assignment so you don't get full marks and Uncle Jerry, I'll spend the fortune on something completely useless."

I was just teasing and Uncle Jerry knew that because he shook his head and chuckled, but Hermione looked petrified at the thought of not getting full credit on her homework. Poor thing, she focuses on work a little too much.

We spent the next week ten days in Munich, then a week in Florence, before we decided to come home. We made it back to London and dropped Hermione off with her parents, promising to come and get her on the way to Diagon Alley the day before term started.

You won't believe this next part, little diary. The day after we got home, Uncle Jerry went to work, needing to catch up on some of his work, while I stayed at home all day resting. We'd been gone for three months, so I wanted to rest and I assumed he did too, but I didn't want to imagine the workload he must have. I also couldn't have imagined how many hours overtime he'd had to work over the last couple years in order to come on such a large holiday with me. I suppose he wanted to make this summer special for me, which he did.

He's the unbelievable part. When Uncle Jerry got home that night, he called out to me saying he had something to tell me. I was in the kitchen putting dinner on the table, so he sat down and as we ate our meal, he told me that he'd heard from a friend in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad that Harry had blown up his aunt. Not blown up like exploded, but she'd inflated like a large balloon. I nearly choked on my glass of water.

"What on Earth prompted him to do that?" I asked.

"I don't know," replied Uncle Jerry. "Ask him when you see him in Diagon Alley."

The next fortnight passed unbelievably slowly. Since Uncle Jerry didn't want me going out on my own, I was cooped up in the house mostly. The day before term started, Uncle Jerry took the day off from work to take Hermione and I to Diagon Alley. We picked her up at her parent's house, she hugged and kissed them goodbye because we'd be staying at the Leaky Cauldron that night, and we headed out. We immediately went to Gringott's and when we got there, we encountered the Weasley's. Mrs. Weasley hugged and kissed both of us and we said hello to Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Percy. Percy had a badge that signified he was the new Head Boy and he was bursting with pride. We went round Diagon Alley and got our supplies together and as we were having lunch outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Hermione started waving and shouted, "Harry! HARRY!"

Ron and I turned and there he was. He beamed at the sight of us and came over to sit with us. Ron immediately brought up the subject of Harry blowing up his aunt and he told us the whole story. Ron laughed throughout the entire thing.

"It's not funny, Ron," said Hermione, disapproval strong in her voice. "Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled."

"Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested," said Harry. He then said to Ron, "your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he? Or does your uncle know?" he asked me.

I shook my head, but Ron said, "probably 'cause it's you, isn't it? Famous Harry Potter and all that. I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to _me_ if I ever blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me."

The conversation then turned to the school year starting the next day and we began talking about our new classes.

"What's all that, Hermione?" asked Harry, pointing at three bags under her chair.

"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I?" she replied. "These are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies…"

Ron cut her off by asking her why she was taking Muggle Studies. I then asked all three of them why on Earth they were taking Divination.

"It's just a bunch of hocus pocus," I told them. "Real seers are extremely rare, the rest make their living on guesswork. They scam their customers by making unusually accurate guesses about people's lives while conning them out of all their money. Before the person knows it, they're dead broke and the so-called seer has mysteriously vanished. There's hardly any truth in it. I thought about taking it just to prove that the professor was a fraud."

"I wondered why you wouldn't take it, Leslie," said Harry. "So what are your new subjects?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes," I replied. "All very sensible."

"You two," said Ron, gesturing between me and Hermione, "are too sensible for your and everyone else's own good."

"Is it possible to be too sensible?" asked Hermione.

"Probably," I replied, not admitting that the comment probably did apply to both of us.

We finished our ice cream and went across the street to the Magical Menagerie, where Ron wanted to get some tonic for his rat, Scabbers, who was looking pretty sick. It ended in a cat chasing Scabbers off the counter and Ron had to dash across the street to get him back. I stayed in the shop with Hermione while Harry went with Ron. I was surprised when Hermione bought the cat that had chased after Scabbers, but apparently she loved him. His name was Crookshanks and he had a face that looked like it had been squashed and he was a bit bowlegged, but she thought he was gorgeous. I just nodded my head and walked outside with her, knowing Ron wouldn't be pleased.

Sure enough, he wasn't and they argued about it all the way back to the Leaky Cauldron. We dropped our purchases in our rooms and rested for awhile before going down to dinner. While we were talking, Mr. Weasley said the Ministry was providing a couple of cars to take us to King's Cross the next morning. We were surprised at that and Mr. Weasley gave a reason for it, but for some reason, I didn't buy it. Everyone else seemed to, but I didn't. I also noticed Uncle Jerry stiffen when it was brought up and saw him visibly relax when everyone seemed to accept the story. He met my gaze though and warned me with his eyes not to say anything. I tilted my head down slightly, then raised it again and he was the only one who could tell I was nodding my head. He turned back to Mr. Weasley and struck up a conversation, while I turned back to talk to Harry and the others.

The next morning was spent doing last minute packing and then we were on our way to King's Cross. We went through the barrier in pairs, Hermione and I went together. We all got our things loaded onto the train and leaned out the window to say goodbye to everyone. I noticed that Mr. Weasley had taken Harry aside to speak to him in private and I wondered what that was about.

Uncle Jerry leaned up to kiss my forehead and said, "have a good year, darling. Study hard, do well, and most of all, be safe."

I didn't understand why at the time, but he put emphasis on those last two words, be safe. Then I thought of Sirius Black and realized that he was still worried that I would have some sort of run in with Black. I didn't have time to assure him not to worry, because the train had started to move. I almost panicked, Harry wasn't onboard yet. He dashed to the compartment door and Ron threw it open to let him in. We leaned out the window again and I waved to my uncle until he was no longer in my sight.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I searched all along the train for an empty compartment and finally found one at the end of the train. There was no one there except for an adult whom we had never seen before, fast asleep in the corner. Hermione identified him as Professor R.J. Lupin and pointed out his name on his suitcase and guessed that he was there to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. We weren't sure how long he'd last, he was so thin that I almost that he was malnourished, he was wearing shabby clothes and he looked sickly. He was hopefully tougher and stronger than he looked.

"Do you think he's really asleep?" asked Harry.

"Seems to be, why?" asked Hermione. Harry shut the compartment door and told us something he had overheard between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley the previous night. It was also why Mr. Weasley had taken Harry aside before the train left the platform. Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after Harry. Apparently, he was such a great dark wizard that he thought he would be Voldemort's second-in-command and killing Harry might bring the Dark Lord back to power. I don't see the logic in that, but spending twelve years in Azkaban could have done something to twist his thinking. Though I must say, he didn't look mad in that photo in the _Prophet_ and he looked decent enough in the photos Uncle Jerry has of him.

"Oh Harry, you'll have to be really, really careful," said Hermione. "Don't go looking for trouble…"

Harry cut her off with, "I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds _me_."

Ron made a comment about how thick Harry would have to be to look for Black and he and Hermione exchanged a few snide remarks at each other. I just leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn't want anything to happen to Harry. He was one of the first friends I had in the wizarding world, the second one actually after Cedric. Harry and I shared a bond because we had lost our parents at early ages. Because we both had experienced that tragedy, it brought us closer together than it would most people. I couldn't let anything happen to him, I _wouldn't_.

"Leslie, are you all right?" asked a voice. It was Harry. He had scooted closer to me and was looking at me concernedly. He had lightly touched my hand with his fingertips too.

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep this year," I whispered to him, glad that Ron and Hermione were still arguing. "I'll be up every night wondering where Black is and what's going through his head, how close he might be to you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me, I promise," he said, taking my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. I didn't believe him. I just looked at the floor and tried to pretend this wasn't happening. "Leslie, look at me," he said. I did and he continued, "nothing will happen. We'll get through this year as we have done before and all four of us will be fine." I gave a small smile and nodded at him. He smiled back and squeezed my hand again for comfort.

"Are you two lovebirds finished yet?" asked Ron in an annoyed voice.

Harry and I immediately scooted away from each other, but it was clear that Ron and Hermione had seen our little exchange and were watching us amusedly. Hermione elbowed Ron in the ribs for his remark, but it was too late to take it back. I suddenly realized that I had feelings developing for Harry, but I still had the feelings I'd always had for Cedric. I wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, Ron began talking about Hogsmeade and we happily anticipated the village. Harry told us he wasn't allowed to come because he didn't get his permission form signed. Hermione and I thought that good with Black on the loose but Ron didn't.

Then, as we got closer to the school, the train suddenly stopped. A second later, all the lamps went out and we couldn't see anything. The compartment door opened and someone said, "does anyone know what's going on?" I recognized that voice instantly.

"Cedric, is that you?" I asked.

"Leslie?" he asked. His voice turned anxious as though he needed to see me there. "Where are you?"

My eyes were becoming accustomed to the dark by this point and I could see his hand reaching out, looking for me. "I'm right here," I said, taking his hand and pulling him over to sit down next to me. His arm came around my shoulders and he held my close. I turned my head to look at Harry and noticed that he was looking anywhere but right at the two of us and though I couldn't see his face in the dark, I knew he wasn't pleased that Cedric was here.

The train lurched again and when Ron looked out the window, he said he thought someone was coming aboard. Hermione went outside to see if she could ask the driver what was going on but she bumped into someone in the hall and came back in a second later with Ginny in tow. We were making an awful lot of noise bumping around in there and we woke up Professor Lupin. He held out a handful of flames which illuminated the entire compartment.

But then, the compartment door opened again and I froze in my seat. There was a figure wrapped in a long black cloak standing in the doorway, a hood draped over its face. It took a long ragged breath and overwhelming feelings of misery and sorrow flooded through me like waves crashing on the rocks. I felt every single bit of cheerfulness evaporate out of the compartment and I couldn't help but shiver. The creature turned its masked face towards me and I felt Cedric shift beside me, as though shielding me from this new foe.

I heard it take another ragged breath and I felt myself go limp in Cedric's arms. I heard a shout of "Leslie!" and another of "Harry!" before my eyes closed and I was sent to a completely different place.

_I didn't recognize my surroundings immediately. I was in a forest, dark, damp, utterly silent. I knew I had been here before but nothing looked familiar. Then I heard a little girl shout, "Mummy, what do we do?"_

_I turned towards the voice and saw a beautiful young woman holding a blanket-wrapped bundle in one arm and the hand of a child in the other. The child had dark brown hair and she was more frightened than anything else. There was the sound of evil laughter and the woman looked over her shoulder to see what it was. She gasped, then turned back to the child._

"_Elena," she said in a voice that I recognized instantly and made me gasp in shock. It was the voice I heard the night Harry, Ron and I went down into the Chamber of Secrets, the one I heard after I blacked out when the boulder cracked my back, the one that told me to hold on even when I wanted to give up. It was my mother's voice. I was in my old childhood nightmare, but this time, it felt more real than ever. She said, "Elena, there isn't time. You take your sister and keep running. Get someplace safe. I will find you, I promise."_

_Elena protested, but Mother just pushed her in the opposite direction and I heard Bellatrix say, "dear me, Lydia. Sending your daughters out into the wilderness all alone. What kind of mother are you?"_

_I was so angry at that, but I didn't have time to see more, for I was suddenly following my sister. Now I've told you, little diary, that before when I've had this dream, it's been shapes that's run past my eyes, blurred shapes. Not this time. I could clearly see the expression on Elena's face, her frightened countenance, her eyes darting back and forth seeking shelter, her chest heaving as she struggled to keep running. But she was only six years old and could not run far or fast._

_Then there she was, that devil woman. Bellatrix Lestrange was walking slowly and calmly towards my sister, a look of amusement on her face. She wasn't moving quickly, yet with each step she seemed to cover more distance than Elena did in five. She was watching the child with a look that said she was enjoying watching her panic. But then, she raised her wand hand, said the words, "Avada Kedavra!" and a jet of green light shot from her wand. It hit Elena in the back and she gave a scream as she fell to the forest floor. She was dead before she hit the ground._

_The blankets, which had my tiny body wrapped in them, fell out of her arms and rolled a few feet away, crying all the while. Then suddenly, it was as though I was a year old again, looking up from behind the blanket at the face of the woman who was about to kill me. She stood towering above me and raised her wand hand again. I heard the sound of a baby screaming and then I myself began screaming._

I sat bolt upright and gave a loud shriek of terror. I began breathing quickly, trying to hold back the nervous breakdown I was on the verge of having. But it didn't work and tears poured quickly down my face. I didn't register that I was not in my dream any longer, that I was on a moving train and there were people all around me. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I jerked away and shouted, "don't touch me!"

"Leslie!" a voice shouted back, which broke through the panicked state I was in and instantly made me calm down a little, Cedric's voice. It was his hand that was still on my shoulder and was gently pushing me down so that I was lying on my back on the seat in our train compartment. He had conjured a damp cloth out of thin air and was now sponging my forehead, wiping away my tears.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

I shook my head. It was a moment before I was able to speak. "I….I w…was in my nightm…mare, the one I…I've h…had s…since I was a ch…child, b…but I c…could see all the e…events. I w…watched m…my sister d…die. It was so awful!" I burst into more tears at that.

"Shh…" whispered Cedric. "It's over. It was just a dream. That creature is gone."

I heard the sound of something snap and I jumped. Professor Lupin was sitting in the corner breaking a large bar of chocolate into pieces. The others were all sitting there looking shell shocked. Harry looked as bad as me, but he wasn't having a panic attack. He passed the chocolate out to everyone and said to eat. He then came over to sit next to me.

"It's all right, my dear," he said. "Have a drink of this." He was holding what looked to be a glass of brandy. I remember Uncle Jerry had given me brandy a couple times before whenever I had had a terrible shock. I closed my eyes and sipped it. As it went down my throat, I could feel my nerves lessen and I felt myself relax. Professor Lupin made me drink the entire glass, then gave me an especially large piece of chocolate. Later, I thought Lupin looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place the face. At that moment, I was just concerned with forgetting what had just happened.

"You should go straight up to the hospital wing when we get to the school," he said. "That dementor affected you worse than everyone else."

"Dementor?" I asked. "That was a dementor?" I had heard about these creatures, but didn't think they'd be that terrifying.

"What's a dementor?" asked Hermione.

"One of the guards of Azkaban, it was searching the train for Sirius Black," replied Lupin. "If you'll excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver." He paused as he reached the door and said, "eat, you'll feel better."

I took a bite of the chocolate and somehow, it calmed me down more than the brandy did. I felt warmth rush through me and I was able to take a deep breath, which made Cedric visibly relax.

"Leslie," said Harry's voice. "Are you all right?"

I shook my head, then asked, "did I faint?"

"You didn't just faint, you collapsed," said Ron, but he was stopped by an elbow to the rib from Hermione. "You went limp and fell back against the seat. If it makes you feel any better, Harry passed out too." I looked over at Harry and he nodded.

"Who was screaming?" Harry asked suddenly. "Before I woke up, I heard someone screaming."

"No one was screaming, Harry, that is until Leslie screamed," said Hermione. She thought something was wrong with him, but I knew what kinds of things dementors could do and I knew what Harry had heard was a woman screaming years ago and the memory had been forced to the surface of his mind.

"You were much worse though, Leslie," said Cedric. "Harry went rigid, then unconscious, but he woke up after a moment. You collapsed, then started fidgeting and whimpering. It got worse as the moments progressed, even after the dementor had gone, you didn't get any better. Then you jerked awake on your own."

"You were talking too," said Ginny. "But it was just incoherent mumbling most of the time."

"Most of the time?" I asked. "What did I say that was coherent?"

Ginny and Hermione exchanged a look and Hermione replied, "you kept repeating small phrases like 'run faster,' 'don't leave me,' and 'don't kill her.' We couldn't understand the rest." She paused a minute, then said, "after you woke up, you said something about an old childhood nightmare. What were you talking about?"

I remembered then that I still hadn't told Harry, Ron, and Hermione about my nightmare. I also remembered the conversation Harry and I had had the previous term after I had shouted at Ron. Harry had said he was hurt that I confided in Cedric so much and the rest of them so little. I still had yet to tell them tons of things about myself, but I knew I wouldn't be able to talk about it now.

"Please, Hermione," I said, my voice still quivering. "Please not now."

"Of course, I'm sorry," said Hermione looking down.

We reached the school a short while later and Harry and Cedric both helped me down from the compartment. I saw them giving each other death glares, but I was too exhausted to deal with them tonight. As we approached the carriages that would take us to the school, Draco Malfoy made some comment about how Harry had fainted, which made Harry unnecessarily angry. The last thing we needed was for a fight to break out on the first night back.

When we got to the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall stopped Harry, Hermione and I as we were about to go into the Great Hall for dinner. She said she wanted a word with all three of us. I looked at Cedric, mouthed, "see you later," and followed the others up the stairs and to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Now Mr. Potter, Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead and said that you and Miss Angkatell were both taken ill on the train, something to do with the dementor," she said.

"Please Professor," said Harry. "We're both all right."

"That is a matter of opinion, Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "For while you appear to be in good health, Miss Angkatell looks as though she is about to come apart at the seams."

It was true. I was feeling better than I had been on the train, but I still wanted to just lie down and go to bed. There was a knock at the door and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, came in and began fussing over Harry and I. She agreed after a moment that Harry could go down to the feast, but she considered having me spend tonight in the hospital wing.

"Please Madam Pomfrey," I said. "I just want to go upstairs to my dormitory and go to sleep. I don't want to be fussed over."

"No," she said. "You will come with me now."

I sighed and followed her out of the office, the door closing as Professor McGonagall was beginning to say something to Hermione about her course schedule. We walked up to the hospital wing together and she gestured towards one of the beds. I went over to it and sat down. She came back a minute later with some more chocolate, even though I had explained to her that I'd already had some, and stood over me to make sure I ate it. I was still very shaken from what I had been through and really just wanted to go to sleep.

Madam Pomfrey went to get me a sedative and as I was pulling back the covers to get in bed, the doors of the hospital wing burst open and Uncle Jerry dashed inside, panic etched all over his face. His eyes darted about the room and when they landed on me, he ran as quickly as he could over to me.

"Leslie," he said, enveloping me in his arms. "Darling, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Uncle Jerry," I said. "How did you know something was wrong and how did you get here so quickly?" If Professor McGonagall had written to him, surely an owl wouldn't have gotten to him this quickly. I'd only left her office a few minutes before.

"I knew Remus Lupin from school," he said. "After the events on the train, he sent his owl up to the school and he sent a message for me by way of a very complicated spell, so complicated most wizards don't attempt it. I won't go into the details now, but it got the message there more quickly than an owl ever would have. When I read it, all I could think of was how much that dementor might have hurt you. So, I apparated into the village of Hogsmeade and ran the rest of the way here. Professor McGonagall was waiting for me at the entrance to the grounds and she told me you were up here. My dear, what happened?"

"Can't you leave the story 'til morning?" came the sharp voice of Madam Pomfrey. "She needs rest. She can tell you everything after she's had time to recover."

"Putting her to sleep won't make it any better," argued Uncle Jerry. "It's better that she just gets it over with now."

"Please Uncle Jerry," I said and I felt fresh tears begin to fall down my face. "Please, I can't go through it again tonight."

He softened at the look on my face, nodded his head in resolve and said, "all right. We'll leave it until morning then. Lie back now and try to relax." I did as he said and he pulled the covers up over me, though I knew he wanted to know what had transpired right then.

Madam Pomfrey came forward then with a bottle in her hand. "You'll need to drink all of this," she said. "It's a potion for dreamless sleep. You should feel just fine in the morning."

"Can my uncle stay with me tonight?" I asked. She nodded and I reached out to take the bottle from her. I uncorked it and swallowed the contents of it in a few sips. I immediately felt drowsy and I let my head fall back against the pillow and my eyes closed. I felt Uncle Jerry take the bottle from me, kiss my forehead and whisper, "good night, darling," before I fell into a deep sleep. I slept more soundly than I'd ever had in my life and it felt as though I had just closed my eyes when I opened them again to find the sun streaming through the windows at the other end of the hospital wing. Uncle Jerry was asleep in the next bed over, but I could tell he wasn't sleeping peacefully. I gave a small cough and he was awake in an instant.

"Leslie, how do you feel?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm all right, Uncle Jerry," I replied. It was true, I felt much better after a good night's sleep and I felt ready to go to class, but whether I could go or not was for the nurse to decide. When she came out though, she said I should be well enough to go to class. I was about to tell Uncle Jerry what had happened the night before when the doors opened and Harry, Ron and Hermione came in.

"Mr. Angkatell," said Hermione. "What are you doing here?"

"Professor Lupin sent me a message saying Leslie had been taken ill and I came at once," he replied. "I've been here all night, but I must say you're looking better, Leslie."

"Thanks," I said.

"We brought you some breakfast and your schedule," said Hermione, handing them out to me. I eagerly took the toast and bacon she'd brought and ate quickly. I then looked over my schedule and saw that today was mostly new subjects. I had Arithmancy at 9:00 and Care of Magical Creatures at 2:00. Ron snatched Hermione's schedule out of her hand and handed it to me.

"Look at it!" he said in disbelief. "They've got her down for ten subjects a day. She has three subjects at 9:00 this morning. How is she going to be able to do that? Can one of you explain that?" He looked at Uncle Jerry and I, obviously expecting an answer.

I said, "Hermione, this is ridiculous. A schedule like this is going to drive you mad. How will you manage it?"

She just said simply, "don't worry, I will."

"You'll have to work extra hard then," said Uncle Jerry. "Just make sure to have some downtime, else you really will lose all your sanity."

"I'll have downtime," said Hermione, but the look on her face said she hadn't thought of that and was now wondering if she would get time to relax that year.

Uncle Jerry then turned to me and said, "you'd better get going, you need to get your books and go to class. But I've gotten permission from Professor McGonagall to take you to dinner tonight out of school. I want to talk to you, Leslie. I'll meet you in the entrance hall at 6:00."

I nodded and said, "all right. I'll see you then." I got out of bed and dashed up to Gryffindor Tower to get my notebook, after getting the password from Harry, and then found the Arithmancy classroom, getting there at five 'til 9:00. Just as I got there, Hermione appeared panting at the other end of the hall. She hurried over and we entered together.

"Why aren't you in Divination with Harry and Ron?" I asked. "You have Muggle Studies too now, don't you?"

"Don't worry, Leslie," she said. "I've got it all sorted out."

I knew better than to ask questions, but I had to admit it was suspicious. How could she be so laid back about this? But she changed the subject pretty easily.

"Did you know Hagrid's the next Care of Magical Creatures teacher?" she asked.

"Really?" I asked. "Oh, that should make for an interesting first lesson."

"It should," she agreed. "I'm looking forward to seeing how Professor Lupin teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"As long as he isn't like Lockhart, I'm fine," I said.

Hermione was about to retort, but luckily Professor Vector came in and the lesson started. Arithmancy is a fascinating subject, but it's difficult. I think I'm going to enjoy it.

Hermione and I went downstairs together to meet Harry and Ron for Transfiguration. Something strange happened then. As we turned into the corridor, I saw Harry and Ron at the other end and Hermione was with them. I looked at them in shock and turned around to look at her, but she was no longer by my side. I hurried down to meet them and said to her, "how did you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked.

"Get to the other end of the corridor. A moment ago, you were right next to me."

"No I wasn't," she said. I just shrugged and entered the room with them. Everyone seemed a little subdued and I wondered what was wrong. Hermione and I were the only people who paid attention to what Professor McGonagall was saying about Animagi and she did ask what was wrong.

"Please Professor," said Hermione. "We've just come from our first Divination class and…"

"Ah, of course," Professor McGonagall cut her off. "There's no need to explain any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

I looked at her in surprise and then I turned to Harry in shock when he answered that he would be dying. Professor McGonagall then went on to explain that Professor Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at the school. You're in no danger, Mr. Potter, I assure you."

After we had sat down to eat lunch, Harry explained to me that they had been reading tea leaves and Professor Trelawney had seen the Grim in his cup. I knew what the Grim was, of course, but I had never believed in it myself. It was obvious that everyone else in that class believed in it though, everyone that is, except Hermione.

"I think Divination seems very wooly, a lot of guesswork if you ask me," she said.

But then Ron made a comment about how she didn't like being bad at something and she retorted back that Divination was absolute rubbish compared with Arithmancy and she left.

"What's she talking about?" he asked. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

"Yes she has," I said. "That's why I was so surprised to see her with you and to hear that she had been in Divination with you. She was in Arithmancy the entire time with me."

"What?" said Harry and Ron together.

"She was in another class at the same time as she was with us?" asked Harry. I nodded.

"How did she do that?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," I answered. "As we went into the classroom, I asked her why she wasn't with the two of you, but she just said she had everything under control. She's hiding something."

"We'll figure out what it is," said Harry. "Let's eat and head down to Care of Magical Creatures."

The day got worse though when we found that we had to take that class with the Slytherins. Malfoy made a comment about how none of us could open our books and that brought Hagrid's morale down a bit because none of us thought the books were funny. He brought a creature called a hippogriff over to see us, half horse, half bird and its name was Buckbeak. Harry volunteered to come a bit closer, bowed to it and when Buckbeak bowed back, Harry was allowed to go up and pet him. Hagrid then lifted Harry onto the creature's back and they flew over the school grounds. I could hear Harry's exhilarated shout and I knew he was enjoying himself.

But after they had landed, Malfoy shoved his way forward and called Buckbeak a great ugly brute. Hagrid had specifically said not to insult him and it was obvious Malfoy hadn't been paying attention. Buckbeak's talons slashed across Malfoy's arm and blood started to spread over his robes. Hagrid took him up to the hospital and the Slytherins began berating him while we tried to argue for Hagrid.

"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron.

That evening, I met my uncle in the entrance hall at 6:00 as arranged and we went into Hogsmeade for dinner. As we walked down to the gates, there were two dementors sort of hovering there. Their hooded faces turned towards us and I felt that wash of hopelessness again. In an instant, I was back in my nightmare, but before I could get too caught up in it, Uncle Jerry picked me up in his arms and carried me down the path to the village. Once away from the dementors, the memory wasn't as strong, but I didn't recover from the misery that quickly. Halfway there, he stopped, set me down on his knee and held some smelling salts under my nose. I was still a little dizzy, but a few whiffs of that and I was all right again.

"Are you all right, my dear?" he asked.

I nodded that I was, but I still took a moment to clear my head. Uncle Jerry kept an arm around me and helped me the rest of the way into the village. When we got to the Three Broomsticks, he ordered me a large mug of butterbeer and after a few sips of it, I felt a lot better. We got some food there and I finally told him what had happened on the train the previous night.

"Good God," he muttered, bringing one hand up to rub his forehead. "I know what dementors do to a person, but I didn't think they'd affect you that badly."

"They affected Harry as well," I said. "He fainted too. I don't know what he saw in his mind's eye."

"Ask him about it the first chance you get," said Uncle Jerry. "You two might be able to find a way to beat this together. But that's the other problem. Every entrance to the castle is being guarded by dementors."

"What?" I asked in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"I'm afraid so, my darling," he said. "They're guarding the school in case Sirius Black tries to break in."

"He won't try to break into Hogwarts, would he?"

"If he can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts, and it is the belief of most people in the Ministry, that he will try to break in. You know about the reason he broke out, I suppose."

"Yes, Harry told us on the train," I said. "I don't understand. What does he hope to accomplish by killing Harry?"

"Harry, in Black's opinion, is the only thing standing in the way of Voldemort returning to power," said Uncle Jerry, whispering so that people around us wouldn't hear him say the Dark Lord's name. "Killing him will ensure there is nothing stopping Voldemort's return."

"Is there any news of where Black is at the moment?" I asked.

"He was last sighted just outside of London. We don't know where he is now."

"I'm so frightened, Uncle Jerry."

"You have good cause to be, darling. Now look at me." I did and his face had taken on the most serious expression I had ever seen. "Mr. Weasley made Harry promise not to go looking for Black, no matter what he might hear. If Harry does decide to go looking for him though, promise me you'll do everything in your power to discourage him. Look after him please."

Just as I had on the train to Munich, I got the impression that there was something Uncle Jerry wasn't telling me. I also had the feeling that the answer was staring me in the face, but I didn't have enough clues to figure out what it was yet. I said, "Uncle Jerry, why should Harry go looking for Black?"

"I won't tell you now," said Uncle Jerry. "But he might hear something that would make him forget his promise. Just promise me you'll look after him." I nodded my head, but I knew he was still hiding something.

We went back up to the castle together and Uncle Jerry left me in the entrance hall. He kissed me goodbye and said to write if I needed anything. I went back up to Gryffindor Tower and to the girl's dormitory. It took me a long time to do the homework Professor McGonagall had assigned, but I got it done and went to bed. Hermione came in after awhile and said that she, Harry and Ron had been down to see Hagrid and just as we thought, Lucius Malfoy was raising a ruckus, demanding an inquiry. I sighed at that. Madam Pomfrey could heal cuts in a second, so we all knew that Draco was exaggerating pain in his arm, but we couldn't prove it.

I went to bed soon after that, but I couldn't sleep. Even hours into the night when knew Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were asleep, I couldn't drift off. I knew there was something I was missing and I couldn't figure out what it was. Uncle Jerry had deliberately hid something from me and I knew I wouldn't be satisified until it came to me. Then, just as I felt myself beginning to drift off, I sat bolt upright, remembering something Uncle Jerry had told me once and if I remember rightly, I told you once, little diary. James Potter had been a fantastic Quidditch player and his three friends Peter, Remus and _Sirius_ had always cheered him on.

"Sirius isn't a very common name," I said to myself. "And the few photos we have of him are with a large group of people, but he's standing close to James Potter. And oh my God…"

I suddenly remembered why Professor Lupin had looked so familiar to me. I had seen a younger version of him in the pictures with Sirius and James. The three of them were at school together and there was a fourth member, Peter Pettigrew. Uncle Jerry had told me stories about the trouble they'd all get into together. They were notorious around the school apparently.

"And Lily Evans married James Potter," I thought. "She tried to avoid his group, but she eventually married him. And because Mother was such good friends with her, she would've known everything. And when Mum became close to Dad, she would've told him, probably not everything, but a few details anyway and he would've told Uncle Jerry. Whatever he's hiding from me has to do with the Potters. Imagine how brokenhearted Mum was when she found out Lily was dead, it must've been devastating to her and James when they found out Sirius was a traitor and a killer. But why would that prompt Harry to go looking for Black?" It took me a minute, then I realized, "unless he had something to do with their death."

I immediately got out a quill and a piece of paper and wrote a letter to Uncle Jerry outlining my suspicions. I got a whistle out of my bedside table, opened the window and blew on the whistle. It was ultrasonic, meaning I couldn't hear it, but a moment later, Ibbett appeared at the window, wondering why I had interrupted his sleep.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed your rest, but this is urgent," I whispered to him. "Take this to Uncle Jerry and stay there until you have a response." He gave a sleepy hoot and flew off.

This morning, I got a response from Uncle Jerry at breakfast. I didn't dare read it at the table in case one of the others looked over my shoulder, but instead tucked it in my bag. I saw Harry looking at me curiously, but I pretended it was nothing. I went to class with the others and when I was sure I was alone, I read the contents of the letter. It confirmed all my suspicions, but told me something worse. Lily and James Potter had gone into hiding from Voldemort and Sirius had betrayed them to him, told him where they were. It was because of Black that they're dead. Uncle Jerry had also told me to swear that I wouldn't tell Harry of this development. I couldn't not tell him, he has a right to know what this man did. But I knew that if Harry knew of this, he would go searching for Black and that was something we all wanted to avoid. So I wrote back and said that I wouldn't tell him, though I didn't feel good about it. I didn't want to keep something like this a secret from Harry, but I was going to do what my uncle told me.

Then something else occurred to me. I didn't say this in my letter to Uncle Jerry, but it can't be a coincidence that Remus Lupin is at Hogwarts this year. As he's an old friend of Black's, perhaps he's helping or is going to help Black get into the castle. I don't know what to do or whom to trust. My only comfort is that Dumbledore wouldn't have let Lupin take the teaching job if he thought he was a traitor. But what if Dumbledore's been fooled or hexed?

What do I do, little diary? I don't want Harry to get hurt and Uncle Jerry doesn't want me to tell anyone about this discovery. I told my uncle I wouldn't say anything and I won't back down on that promise, but what if Harry finds out on his own from someone else? If he finds out I knew about this, he won't forgive me. What do I do?

Hoping you have a more pleasant few weeks than I'm going to.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so that's the first chapter of _Prisoner of Azkaban_. What did you guys think? It only just occurred to me this morning to put in that section about Leslie figuring out how Sirius is related to the Potter's death. Of course, Malfoy knows and when he taunts Harry about it in Potions in the next chapter, he's going to see that Leslie knows and is going to taunt her as well. I don't know what all's going to be in the next chapter yet.

If you remember from the AN in the last chapter, I had a poll on my profile page about an alternate ending that puts Leslie with Harry. I think I am going to write that. Since I started writing this, I really want Leslie to end up with Harry, but I already promised everyone that she would end up with Cedric, so I'm going to write both. That's what most people voted on, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter. Stay tuned!


	22. November 10th, 2003

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! I think this is the fastest update I've ever had. At least you didn't have to wait six months this time. These chapters are taking longer to write and I have to go back to school pretty soon, so hopefully, I'll get at least one more chapter out before then.

So, in this one, we've got the DADA lesson with the boggart, which Leslie is going to freak out during, Sirius Black ripping up the Fat Lady's portrait and the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. It's going to include a very personal moment between Leslie and Harry and a small conversation with Cedric. Happy reading!

11-10-2003

Dear Diary,

Sirius Black is somewhere in the castle or on the grounds. I know that's not the best news with which to start a diary entry, but it is the main problem we have now. He tried to break into Gryffindor Tower on Halloween while we were all at the feast. Did I mention that Halloween is now officially my least favorite holiday? I'm dreading next year's already just because I know something terrible is going to happen. I tried not to have nightmares about it that night.

On top of that, Malfoy is creating trouble after the Hippogriff incident, he's taunting me because we both know Black's secret, the dementors came to a Quidditch match and had a feast, and this last part is what's bothering Harry the most, he no longer has a broomstick. I don't know why that's bothering him, now that he knows a mad killer is loose somewhere on the castle grounds and is trying to get close enough to him to kill him. I'd be frantic, I _am _frantic. All right, from the beginning.

Malfoy didn't come back to class for a few days after Buckbeak cut his arm. We were in Potions, learning how to make a Shrinking Solution, when he staggered into the dungeon, over-exaggerating his wound. His arm was even in a sling. The other Slytherins lapped it up. Everyone else rolled their eyes; Harry and Ron looked like they wanted to punch him.

At one point, I went into the student store cupboard to get an ingredient I had run out of and Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were in there together. She was asking if there was anything she could do for him. I couldn't resist making a snide comment.

"Malfoy, why do I get the feeling that if I went to talk to Madam Pomfrey right now, she'd tell me there's nothing wrong with your arm at all?" I asked.

"She'd tell you that it's a fatal wound," said Malfoy. "I could've lost my arm."

"Oh please, she grew back all the bones in Harry's right arm last year. She can mend cuts in a second. There was absolutely no danger of you losing your arm."

"You're just jealous he's getting attention," said Pansy Parkinson angrily.

"Personally, I've never cared much for attention," I replied. "I find people who seek it constantly, such as you and Gilderoy Lockhart, nuisances." I then looked Malfoy straight in the eye and asked him, "Honestly Malfoy, what is it going to take for you to stop playing the tragic hero and admit you're not really hurt?"

"I am hurt," said Malfoy indignantly, but I could tell he was trying to keep from stuttering. He was also trembling a little and I think it was because I was giving him a very intimidating glare. I gave him a triumphant smirk and shake of my head before going back out to the main dungeon.

But then, Malfoy decided to get back at me. He set up his cauldron next to Harry and Ron. Hermione and I were next to them, so we could hear everything they were saying. Hermione wasn't paying much attention, but I didn't miss a word. Snape made Harry and Ron prepare Malfoy's ingredients for him and at one point, Ron had to change ingredients with the little devil. I know he truly isn't evil at heart, but I can't resist calling him a devil sometimes. Malfoy began taunting Harry and Ron about Hagrid and Buckbeak, saying how his father had a lot of influence over the school governor's and the Ministry of Magic. I had already written my uncle about the incident, thanking God he was a governor, giving my version of the events and because he knew the Malfoy's, he knew I was the one telling the truth. But if everyone else believes what Lucius Malfoy says, there isn't going to be much Uncle Jerry can do.

Professor Snape was giving Neville a lot of trouble. His solution was orange instead of the green it should have been. Hermione offered to put it right, which she did do, but she had to do it behind Snape's back. Seamus Finnegan then asked Harry if he'd heard about the recent Sirius Black sighting. It was in Dovetown, not far from the school.

"I'd have done something before now," said Malfoy suddenly. "I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy, I'd be out there looking for him."

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" asked Ron.

"Don't you _know_, Potter?" asked Malfoy. I was doing some serious multi-tasking, listening to their conversation as well as keeping an eye on Snape so that I could warn Hermione to stop whispering instructions to Neville. But at that moment, my head shot up and all my attention was on Malfoy. I then realized that he knew about Black betraying Harry's parents. He was going to taunt Harry about it without actually saying anything. But if he carried on like this, Harry was bound to figure out something was up and he'd go after Black, which is exactly what I'd promised my uncle I'd try to prevent.

"Maybe you'd better not risk your neck," he continued. "Want to leave it to the dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself." He gave a smirk when Harry asked again what he was talking about. He then looked over at me and his grin widened. He realized that I knew about Black as well and he also knew that I hadn't told Harry what was going on. I put on an indifferent look quickly, but not quickly enough. Harry looked over at me and he saw that Malfoy wasn't making it up, which is the opinion that Ron took to the whole thing.

We walked up to lunch together, after mending a seam in Hermione's bag. Her books had spilled out of it, showing she was carrying a dozen heavy textbooks, but we only had Defense Against the Dark Arts that afternoon. That coupled with the fact that she had disappeared from our side and reappeared at the bottom of the stairs just before, reinforced my opinion that she's hiding something.

After we got done eating, we still had half an hour to go before our next class. I dug through my bag and found that I had put my notes for Transfiguration into my bag instead of Defense Against the Dark Arts. I told the others I was going upstairs to get the right book and I headed off for Gryffindor Tower. I was up the stairs and in a deserted corridor when I heard footsteps behind me. I ignored them and kept walking, then a drawling voice said behind me, "got some interesting little secrets locked away, haven't you, Angkatell?" I tried hard not to groan. It was Malfoy.

I turned to face him and said, "I hide personal things about myself, Malfoy. What business is it of yours?"

"Everyone in this castle knows you've got secrets, thanks to that shouting match you had with Granger outside of Lockhart's class last year," he said. I hung my head in shame at the way I had shouted at Hermione exactly a year before. Malfoy continued, "but I didn't think you the type to a hide a secret of this magnitude from your friends."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but it was my turn to squirm under his triumphant look.

"Sirius Black betrayed the Potter's, you know it and so do I," he said. "So why haven't you told Potter about it?"

"Because I've promised someone else I wouldn't," I replied coolly.

"Someone else? Your uncle no doubt. He's the only one you'd make a promise like this to."

"I believe I asked you a moment ago what business it was of yours."

"If you aren't going to tell Potter about it, perhaps someone else should." He trailed off ominously, but what he was saying couldn't have been more obvious.

"You will not tell Harry about it!" I said, more of a command than a request.

"What's stopping me?"

"If you tell him, he'll go looking for Black. He _will_ want revenge. I promised my uncle I wouldn't let that happen. I'm not going to let Harry get hurt. Please, you can't tell him."

"Seeing Potter do something stupid like seek revenge is what'll make this all the more interesting," said Malfoy.

"You won't tell him," I said firmly. "If you have any decency at all, you won't."

"I might tell him, I might not," said Malfoy. "It'll cost to keep me quiet, Angkatell."

"I will not be blackmailed into doing something for you, Malfoy!" I said angrily, my voice rising. "Either you will keep this secret on your own or I will go to a professor, and I'm sure all the professors know of the situation, and I will see that one of them puts you in your place!"

"What's going on?" came a voice from down the corridor. It was Cedric.

"What do you want, Diggory?" asked Malfoy bitterly.

"Mind your attitude, Malfoy," said Cedric. "I am a school prefect."

I wanted to roll my eyes at that, for he sounded exactly like Percy Weasley, but it was effective at this point. Malfoy wouldn't heed anything Percy said just because he was a Weasley, but he'd at least listen to the other prefects. Though I know he'd listen to the Slytherin prefects more than the others.

"What's all this about blackmail?" asked Cedric. "Are you blackmailing Leslie here?"

"No, of course not," said Malfoy quickly. "I was just telling her a secret was safe with me."

"Really, because I distinctly heard you say it'd cost to keep you quiet," said Cedric.

"What business is it of yours, Diggory?"

"It _is _my business if you're threatening Leslie," said Cedric. "You know Malfoy, just as it'd cost to keep you quiet, it'll cost to keep me quiet about something as well."

Malfoy's pale face went even paler if that was possible. "What're you talking about?"

"Your father has been seen entering and leaving Borgan and Burke's many times over the last few weeks," replied Cedric. "And each time, he's gone in with some kind of trinket and left without it. Since that shop has a reputation of being connected with the dark arts, I think it'd be very damaging to your father's towering reputation if he were caught selling some dark items to that shop. And since I'm sure the owners keep a log of what has been bought and sold, it'd be all too easy to prove your father of practicing dark magic. So unless you want me to tell my father, who'll go right to Leslie's uncle and several other Ministry officials, you'll keep your mouth shut about whatever it is you're taunting Leslie with."

I felt as though I could kiss Cedric after that. Malfoy was trembling badly by this point and I knew what had been said was true. I remembered Harry had said he'd seen Lucius Malfoy in Knockturn Alley the previous summer. It wouldn't surprise me if he was trying to get rid of some things that would prove damaging to him and the family. I also remember Ron said there was a secret panel under the Malfoy's drawing room floor and I believe Mr. Weasley already conducted another raid and found several dark items under there.

Malfoy finally managed to stutter out, "fine, but I'll remember this, Diggory!"

"Is that supposed to scare me?" asked Cedric and I had to admit it was a feeble threat.

The little brat just walked back down the corridor to the entrance hall and I went up to Cedric and gave him a hug.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Don't mention it," he whispered back. "Where were you off to? I'll see you there."

I looked at my watch and realized I only had ten minutes before Defense Against the Dark Arts. I told him I had been headed back to Gryffindor Tower to get my books and he came with me. On the way there, I told him that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after Harry, but I didn't tell him about what he had done to the Potter's. I said what I said in hushed tones; I didn't want anyone to hear us, but since there wasn't anyone in the corridor, I suppose we were safe. By the time I finished telling him the basics, we had reached Gryffindor Tower.

"Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after Harry?" he asked, when I returned from the dormitory. I nodded. He continued, "does Harry know that?"

"Of course he does," I replied. "Mr. Weasley told Harry of it before we left London."

"There's more to it, isn't there?" he asked.

"What makes you say that?" I asked testily.

"Because Malfoy wasn't trying to blackmail you for something Harry already knows. Why was he trying to blackmail you?"

"I can't tell you," I said simply.

"I thought I'd made it clear by now you can tell me anything," said Cedric.

"I promised my uncle I wouldn't tell anyone, that includes you."

"No, that's an excuse. I'll bet you just promised your uncle you wouldn't tell Harry."

"You don't have any way of knowing what I have and have not promised my uncle." We had reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom by this point and I could see the rest of the class filing in. Harry, Ron and Hermione were waiting for me at the door. "Thank you, Cedric, for helping me."

He nodded at me and walked off. Something else occurred to me just then. This was the first time I had kept from sharing a secret like this from him when he asked me to tell it. I had shared our past secrets with him when I was scared of what we were about to do or when I was very close to my breaking point. I knew he'd keep the secret for me, but I also realized that I didn't have to share everything with him. I barely share anything at all with Harry, Ron and Hermione. I knew this might cause rifts in my relationship with Cedric; after all, he didn't like it when I kept secrets from him. But I couldn't let him know about this, not yet anyway.

I joined the others and we went into the classroom together. I was determined not to tell them about what had just passed. If I told them that Malfoy had tried to blackmail me, it would lead to what secret he knew and that would lead to Harry finding out about Black.

Professor Lupin wasn't there at first. He came in a few minutes later and told us all to put our books away, get out only our wands and to follow him. He lead us to the staff room, having a run-in with Peeves the Poltergeist on the way there, and he showed us a cabinet in the corner of the room. It was rattling as though there was something inside it trying to get out.

"Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what is in that cabinet?" he asked.

"That's a boggart, that is," said Dean Thomas.

"Correct," said Professor Lupin. "Can anyone tell us what a boggart looks like?"

Hermione immediately raised her hand. "No one knows," she said. "Boggarts are shape-shifters. They take the form of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Again correct," said Professor Lupin. He then said it was always better to have more than one person present when dealing with a boggart as it wouldn't know whom to choose. "There's a very simple incantation to repel a boggart. Repeat after me, without wands please, _riddikulus_." We all said it. "Very good, but the incantation alone is not enough, what really finishes a boggart is laughter. You have to force it to assume a shape that you find truly amusing."

He then called Neville to the front of the room and asked what he was most afraid of. Not surprisingly, he said Professor Snape. Professor Lupin then asked after Neville's grandmother and asked if he could picture her clothes clearly in his mind's eye. We all wondered why he was asking that. He then whispered something in Neville's ear and opened the wardrobe. Professor Snape stepped out of the wardrobe and started toward Neville. He pointed his wand at the fake potions master and said the spell. In a minute, Professor Snape was wearing a long green dress, a hat topped with a stuffed vulture and was carrying a big red handbag. We all burst out laughing at that. The boggart looked at all of us confusedly. We all formed a line and anticipated our turns with it. Professor Lupin put on some music and the fun began.

Parvati Patil stepped forward and her boggart was a mummy. But a second later, one of its bandages had come undone and it had tripped over its own feet. Seamus Finnegan stood before a banshee. In Irish folklore, it's said that if you hear a banshee scream, someone close to you is fated to die. Since this one was fake, we had nothing to worry about. Seamus made her choke and grapple at her throat so she couldn't wail. After a few more people, it was Ron's turn. His turned into a gigantic spider, similar in appearance to the ones in Aragog's lair who had tried to eat him, Harry and I a few months before. He put roller skates on his and then I stepped forward.

This is where it went south. I was expecting it to turn into a giant snake, something I've always been afraid of. But when the boggart saw me, it turned into something completely different. There was a cracking noise and I felt my face go white. There she was, standing before me, the devil woman herself, Bellatrix Lestrange. My first thought was, "oh God, she's broken out of Azkaban and come after me. She's going to kill me and everyone here."

She opened her mouth and said, "the last of the Angkatell's. How difficult it must have been, living all these years knowing that your mother and sister died to save you and you couldn't save them. Don't worry, you'll be with them soon enough." She reached into her pocket for her wand.

A second later, my fear was gone and replaced with a new emotion: rage. I marched toward her, throwing my wand to the ground, fists raised. I didn't register Harry grabbing my arms and holding me back. All I could focus on was that the daughter of Satan was standing in front of me and I had to have my revenge. I started screaming at her, "how dare you! How dare you speak of my mother and sister! How dare you taunt me by making me remember what you did to me and my family! You miserable, wretched, loathsome, deceitful, little devil! Go back to the fires of Hell where you belong!"

"Leslie!" Professor Lupin was standing in front of me now, but I didn't see him. All I could see was Bellatrix standing behind him. "Leslie, calm down now. It's not real. Bellatrix Lestrange is in Azkaban and she's not going to hurt you again."

"Get out of my way," I shrieked. "I'll make her pay for what she did to my family!"

"Leslie!" said another sharp voice. It was Harry. That broke through my haze of anger. I realized that Harry was holding on tightly to both my arms. I stopped struggling after that point. When he realized that I wasn't going to keep fighting, he turned me around to face him and said, "look at me. It's all right. That's a boggart, remember? This isn't your nightmare. This is Hogwarts, you're safe here. She can't touch you here and she never will, I promise."

It was only then I realized that I had lashed out in anger at a boggart, at a shape that wasn't real. I flushed in embarrassment as I realized that the entire class had seen my outburst. They were all looking at me in shock and surprise, a couple with confusion, many with apprehension that I would burst out again. I did burst out again, this time into tears. Harry tried to wrap his arms around me and lead me out of the room, but I shoved him away and ran from the room myself. Everyone moved hurriedly out of the way and I ran all the way back to Gryffindor Tower and collapsed onto my bed. I drew the curtains around me, buried my face into my pillow and laid there and cried for hours. I heard Parvati, Lavender and Hermione come in to drop off their books, but I didn't speak to them. I heard a soft thud close to my bed and later I learned that Hermione had brought my bag and wand back for me.

"Leslie," she said after a little while. "Do you want to come downstairs to dinner?"

"No," I stuttered out. "I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat something," she said. "Besides, you can't hide from the others. You have to come out eventually. Hiding here will only make them talk more."

"Please, Hermione," I said. "I'll face the rest of the school tomorrow. Tonight, just please leave me alone with my misery."

I heard her sigh, then she said, "would you like me to bring you back some food?"

"I shan't eat it," I replied. "I'll eat in the morning, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that and so will Harry," she said before leaving the room.

I stayed there for hours. Even after all my tears had dried, I just laid in bed and thought. Even after the others had gone to bed, I couldn't make myself go to sleep. I started to get restless and finally I pulled the curtains back from my bed. I looked at my watch, it was nearly midnight. I went quietly out onto the landing, thinking it would be good to sit by the fire, but as I looked out over the common room, I stopped. Harry was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, just looking pensively into the flames. I had been very quiet as I left the dormitory, but he still looked up as I came out on the staircase. It surprised me that he just happened to look up as I came out, but after giving it some thought, I don't believe it was a coincidence at all. He didn't say anything, he just raised his hand and gestured with his finger for me to come down and sit with him. I almost went back into the bedroom, I didn't want to talk to anyone about what had transpired. But the look he was giving me told me that it would be better for me to get it off my chest now. I walked quickly and quietly down the stairs and came to stand behind the sofa he was sitting on. He turned his head to look at me and patted the seat next to him. I sat down and we stayed silent for a minute.

"Are you all right?" he asked, after what seemed like a lifetime even if it was only a minute.

"Does it look like I'm all right?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, I had to ask," he said. "You haven't left your room in eight hours."

"I didn't want to go anywhere," I said.

"You didn't come and have dinner."

"I wasn't hungry. I told Hermione I wouldn't eat if she brought something back."

"So she said. She and I are both going to make you eat breakfast tomorrow though."

"I might just be well enough to eat breakfast tomorrow," I said hopefully.

"You might just be well enough to eat now," he said. I looked curiously at him and he reached over to grab a bowl off the small table next to the sofa. It was filled with baked potato soup. "It's not exactly a good meal, but I thought you'd be hungry. Fred and George made a run down to the kitchens for some extra dessert a little while ago and I asked them to get you some soup. They heard from Ron about what happened, they were glad to get it for you. Hermione put a spell on it to keep it hot."

"How'd you even know I'd come down here?" I asked as I took the bowl from him.

"Because you don't do well cooped up inside stone walls," he said. "I knew you'd have to get out of your room eventually. I decided to wait here for you. Drink that, you'll feel better."

I took a sip of it and felt the warmth spread from the center of my body to the tips of my toes. I gave a contented sigh and took another sip. Harry smiled at me and I saw him visibly relax. I finished the soup and he took the bowl from me and set it back on the end table.

"You relived your nightmare without being asleep today, didn't you?" he asked.

I nodded. "I wasn't expecting the boggart to turn into Bellatrix Lestrange. I was planning how to make a snake appear comical. But when that devil appeared before me, at first I thought she was going to kill us all. Then all I could think was how much I wanted to make her pay for my suffering. You understand better than anyone else, Harry, what it's like to grow up without parents. I may've been only a year old and incapable of saving my mother and my sister, but that doesn't mean I don't blame myself. Both of them died to save me. If it weren't for the fact that my uncle got there just in time, I would've died regardless of their efforts."

"I don't blame you for wanting revenge," he said. "But you can't let it consume you."

"Harry, she has taken everything from me, _everything_," I said, tears gathering in my eyes, threatening to spill. "And I want to hurt her. To put my wand against her head and curse the life right out of her. Oh God, I'm so afraid."

"What are you afraid of?" asked Harry.

"I'm afraid of what I might do if she does ever break out of Azkaban. She'll come after me and when she does, I'm afraid that I'll do just that and kill her. Then I'll be no better than she is and I'll spend the rest of my life brooding about what I had done to her and never managing to feel an ounce of regret for it."

"You've already spent most of your life festering over what she did to you. If you kill her, you're right, you will brood about it forever, which is why I'm going to suggest that you dismiss her from your mind for now."

"I can't," I said, one tear falling from each eye.

Harry placed his index finger under my chin, tilted my face up so I was looking at him and said, "you can, you will."

I gave a small sob and buried my face into his shoulder. He wrapped one arm around my shoulders, the other arm around my waist and rested his head on top of mine, gently rocking me back and forth. This was a more intimate gesture than I had shared with Cedric, but I didn't object. Harry was the person with me and only Harry could understand what I had been through. Even though I knew Cedric would try to help me through this if he knew about it, this time only Harry could provide me the comfort I needed. Harry stayed quiet and let me get these feelings out of my system. When I was done, the shoulder of his robes was soaked with tears, but he didn't seem to mind. He just smiled at me and asked if I felt better, though I believe he smiled because he already knew the answer to that.

"Much," I replied, giving the first smile I'd had all day. His grin widened and he kept his arm around me as we sat back on the sofa together. Then I asked him, "what happened after I left?"

"If you could call the exit you made just leaving," he said jokingly. "The boggart changed shape right after you left and looked at me. I think it was going to turn into a dementor, but then Professor Lupin stepped in front of me and it changed into a silvery orb. He forced it back into the wardrobe and dismissed us. We all tried to make small talk about our attempts at it, but everyone was wondering about you. They're all worried about you, Leslie."

"Everyone in the school will know my problems now," I said. "They'll also know the burdens I carry."

"I think you'll find no one will talk about it unless you bring it up," said Harry. "Professor Lupin insisted that we do nothing to upset you even more."

"I'm going to have to remember to thank him," I said.

"I don't think he'll take thanks, but if I were you I'd visit him tomorrow and let him know you're all right. He was more concerned about you than Hermione and I were and we were the most worried of everyone there."

"I will," I said, then it was silent again for a minute. Then I asked him, "Harry, when the dementor entered our compartment on the train that night, what happened when you fainted? What did you see in your mind's eye?"

He hesitated and I could tell he was wondering what to tell me. Finally, he said, "I didn't _see _anything. The dementor came in, my world went black and before I lost consciousness, I heard a woman screaming my name. I thought it was you, Hermione or Ginny. But then Hermione told me that no one screamed and I wondered where it had come from. I think it was my mother the night she died."

"You relived that night, just as I relived my nightmare in vivid detail," I said, a shudder running down my spine. Harry's arm tightened around my shoulders.

"We're going to have to find a way to beat this," he said. "If the dementors come inside the grounds, which they're not allowed to do, but still, we have to learn how to fight them."

"Is there a way to fight them?"

"We'll find a way, we have to. I'll ask Professor Lupin if he knows how to do it."

I nodded and said, "thank you, Harry, for everything."

He gave me a small smile and nod and said, "you're welcome. Now, why don't you get some sleep?"

I only just then realized how tired I was. We said goodnight, went up to our dormitories and for the first time that day, I felt calm. I fell into a peaceful sleep and the next morning, I was able to walk down to breakfast and to class with my head held high, despite the looks everyone who was in Defense Against the Dark Arts the day before was giving me.

The next six weeks passed without incident, and we fast approached the end of October. The first Hogsmeade weekend was on Halloween. I wasn't too keen on passing the dementors to get into the village and I had to admit that I wanted Harry there with me when I walked past them, but he was stuck in school because he didn't have a signed permission form. We said goodbye in the entrance hall and I walked out of the school with Ron and Hermione. As we approached the gate, I hesitated. I could feel the dementor's presence from there and already, I could hear my mother's voice as she told Elena to try and get away. I felt the blood drain from my face and for a moment, I thought I was going to faint again.

Suddenly, I felt someone at my shoulder. "It's all right, Leslie," they said. "Just close your eyes, take deep breaths, and try to think happy thoughts. Whatever you do, don't concentrate on the depression." It was Cedric.

"I can't," I whimpered, feeling more depression wash over me.

"Yes you can," he said. "Try, please Leslie, try for me."

"Leslie," came Hermione's voice from my other side. "Do what he says."

I shut my eyes and inhaled deeply, but it just seemed to bring in more thoughts of pain. Cedric wrapped his arm around my shoulders and took one of my hands in his. Hermione looped her arm through mine and the two of them supported me between them. I breathed a small sigh of relief knowing I had them with me, and leaned my head on Cedric's shoulder, allowing him to guide me past the dementors. I thought of every good memory I had of him, of Uncle Jerry, of Harry, Ron and Hermione. It helped a little, but not much. I felt my knees buckle under me as I walked through the gates. Even with shut eyes, I could sense that those creatures were turning their hooded faces to look at me, could smell their putrid breath in the air. But knowing Cedric and Hermione were there with me brought me enough comfort to face my fears and walk past the monsters that were forcing me to relive them. My two allies supported me down the path, doing most of the walking for me, until we were halfway to the village.

"Stop a moment," said Cedric. We were already lagging behind because I was walking so slowly.

"We have to keep going," said Hermione. "We have to get further from the school."

"We're far enough away the dementors won't affect her," said Cedric, making me sit down on the ground. He kept his right arm around my shoulders and Hermione kept a hand on my arm. Cedric pulled something out of his robes, another bottle of smelling salts. My uncle must've written him to have a bottle handy for after I got past the dementors. He held it under my nose and after taking a few whiffs of it, I felt my head clear and I stood up with his help.

"Thank you, both of you," I said.

"You're welcome, Leslie," said Hermione. Cedric just nodded.

"Where've you two been? What's he doing here?" asked Ron, standing a few feet away, directing his question at Hermione and I. He had walked on ahead and hadn't noticed until a moment before that we had lagged behind. He isn't that fond of Cedric, for reasons I'm not aware of.

"I almost passed out again walking past the dementors," I said icily. "Cedric and Hermione were helping me. You're honestly saying you didn't notice we weren't with you until a moment ago?"

"More than that," said Cedric, just as icily. "You didn't notice that Leslie needed help and support?"

"I was trying to keep the dementors from messing with my head," he said, which was an excuse more than an explanation. "I didn't really see what was going on around me."

"After what happened on the train, you should've been keeping an eye on her, like Hermione and I were, like Harry would've if he were here," said Cedric. "You should learn to pay better attention to your friends."

I dearly wanted to say, "he also needs to take better care of his pets," because his rat, Scabbers, is looking thinner and sicklier than ever. Ron says it's because Crookshanks keeps chasing him, but I'm not so sure. Scabbers was looking ill before that cat ever came along. I made a mental note to tell Ron this later.

Ron was stuttering, trying to find something to say to this, but Hermione just grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the village. Cedric kept his arm around me and led me on right behind them.

"Has he always been like that?" he asked me, nodding at Ron.

"Always," I said, rolling my eyes. I told him about how I had shouted at Ron a few months earlier for not seeing the big picture, the night Harry and I had our little chat outside on the grounds. Cedric shook his head when I was done.

"He needs to learn how to open his eyes, see that he's hardly ever right and start looking at the situation as a whole," said Cedric.

"You're right," I said. We walked the rest of the way into the village together. I could see Ron and Hermione waiting for me and a bunch of Cedric's friends were waiting for him at the door of The Three Broomsticks. We said goodbye and I joined Ron and Hermione. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the village, buying souvenirs for Harry in the hope that he wouldn't feel quite so left out. I don't think it helped much. When we got back to the castle that evening, Harry was still miserable over the fact that he didn't get to go. He told us about how he had had tea with Lupin in his office and how Snape had come in with a steaming goblet, the contents of which Lupin drank. Ron thought he was mad. I had to agree with him; one shouldn't trust anything Snape gives you.

The Halloween feast was marvelous. The food was excellent and the ghosts provided the entertainment. I thought fondly that perhaps we finally had a Halloween where nothing would happen and we could just enjoy the festivities. But as we ascended the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, we saw that the Fat Lady was gone and her portrait had been slashed. Professor Dumbledore, Filch and many of the other professors came to see what was going on.

"Mr. Filch," said Dumbledore. "Round up all the ghosts and tell them to search every portrait in the castle until they find the Fat Lady."

There was no need for ghosts however. Filch spotted her in another portrait almost at once and she revealed to us that Sirius Black had tried to gain access to the tower. Dumbledore sent us all back down to the Great Hall and a few minutes later, the other three houses joined us. The professors began a thorough search of the castle and the prefects went outside to stand guard over the entrances. Harry, Ron, Hermione and I grabbed four sleeping bags, which Professor Dumbledore had provided for the students, and we dragged them into a corner where we could talk. I saw Cedric looking over at me from another part of the hall and I mouthed to him that we'd talk later. He nodded, but I could tell he wanted to join in our conversation.

"It's lucky you know," said Hermione. "The one night we weren't in the tower."

"I reckon he's lost track of time being on the run," said Ron. "Didn't realize it was Halloween. Otherwise he'd have come bursting in here."

"No," I said. "It wasn't luck and I doubt he mistook the day. If you want to kill someone, you plan it thoroughly. You wait for the time you know they'll be alone or you plan it in a way so that if you do have to kill him in a public space, you can get away quickly enough. He knew we weren't going to be in the tower, I'm sure of it."

"But why would he want to get into the tower if he knew we would all be at the feast?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," I answered. "Perhaps he wanted to hide in the tower and wait for us all to go to bed. Then he could wait for the right time to murder Harry in his sleep."

"How could he wait for us in the tower?" asked Ron. "There's nowhere to hide."

"He could under one of your beds," I said. "He could lie there and wait patiently on the floor. Then when he was sure everyone was asleep, he could kill Harry and get away and none of us would be any the wiser until morning. By then, he'd be long gone."

"That's a good point, Leslie," said Harry, who was doing a remarkably good job of hiding how nervous he was. "But we're still forgetting, how did he get in?"

We listened to some of the crazy theories that were circulating around: Apparition, flying, disguised himself, etc. Hermione shot them all down, not that the others heard.

"You can't Apparate in here," she said. "There are dementors at every entrance, they can see through invisibility cloaks. I'd like to see the disguise that can fool them. They'd have seen him fly in too."

"How can he have done it then?" I asked. Percy Weasley shouted for everyone to hear then that the lights were going out and we had to stop talking. We didn't fall asleep at once though. We laid there whispering for awhile, then Ron and Hermione both fell asleep. Harry and I didn't though. He checked to make sure Percy wasn't anywhere close by and whispered to me, "Leslie, what happened a few weeks ago, before the lesson with the boggart?"

"What are you talking about?" I whispered back.

"You know what I'm talking about. That Potions lesson, when Malfoy was talking about going after Black, he wasn't making that up, was he?"

"Of course he was," I muttered. "He wants you to get hurt, look like a fool."

"Maybe he does, but he wasn't making it up like Ron and Hermione think. He knows something and I think you know it too. I saw the look on your face when you heard what he was saying. And I saw the smirk on his face that told me he knows you know. I used a spell Hermione taught me to hear what you and Cedric were saying as you approached the classroom. Why was Malfoy trying to blackmail you? What did you promise your uncle you wouldn't tell anyone about?"

"They call it a promise for a reason," I whispered harshly, stopping when I heard Percy's footsteps coming in our direction. Harry and I hurriedly shut our eyes and pretended to be asleep, but I think Percy knew we were both awake. There was nothing he could do though, so as soon as he passed on, I whispered, "I'll tell you when the time is right, if that time ever comes. Hopefully, it never will. Now, no more talk on the subject." I closed my eyes then and tried to go to sleep and Harry could see that I wasn't going to talk anymore, but by the disgruntled sigh he gave, I knew he wasn't pleased.

Professor Dumbledore came in about two in the morning and Harry and I both heard him talking to Professor Snape telling him that the entire castle had been searched and that Black was nowhere to be found. My heart sunk at that. I had been so sure they would catch him and now that he was gone again, it meant that he could come after Harry any time he pleased. Snape also said something about concerns he had prior to the start of term about his appointment of one of the members of the faculty. But Dumbledore cut him off before he could finish the sentence. Clearly, Snape believes someone inside the castle is helping Black enter it, but just as clearly, Dumbledore doesn't believe it. I'm not sure I do either. Why would someone inside the castle help Black to enter it? He escaped fairly close to the start of term, only a few days before we received our Hogwarts letters with our booklists. That would mean all the faculty for that year had been finalized. When would an accomplice of Black's have had time to gain admittance to the castle? And how would they have gotten past Dumbledore? He would've seen them for who they were, yes? I don't know what to think anymore.

The next morning, we all went back to the common rooms together. Because it was still the weekend and we didn't have to go to class, the teachers thought it would be best if we all stayed in the dormitories until they were absolutely sure the castle was safe. I was sure it was, Black wasn't fool enough to linger. Nonetheless, we were all made to spend the rest of the next day in our dormitories. While the rest of Gryffindor House sat and talked about Sirius Black, I went upstairs to the dormitory and tried to get some more sleep. But my head was buzzing with thoughts of how he managed to get inside the castle. I just couldn't make my thoughts stop for even a minute.

Suddenly, I heard a tapping on the window. I looked up and I saw Cedric's owl, Diana, sitting there looking at me. I went to the window and allowed her to come in. She had a note from Cedric clutched in her talons. I took it from her and noticed that she didn't fly off immediately, which meant that she'd been told to await a response. The note read:

_Leslie,_

_We need to talk, but I assume you've been trapped in your dormitory as well. I don't want you to leave your dormitory either. I seriously doubt Black is still in the castle, but I don't want you to have a run in with him. Even if you have your cloak on, you could gasp or something and give yourself away. Send me a note back and tell me what you and your friends were talking about last night. I know you have some theories and I want to know about them._

_ Expecting your answer,_

_ Cedric_

I quickly wrote back, telling him what Harry, Ron, Hermione and I had said the previous night. His next note agreed with me on my theory that Black was trying to infiltrate the Gryffindor common room before we got back so that he would have an easier time murdering Harry. But he didn't have any thoughts on how Black entered the castle grounds either. We sent messages through Diana for awhile, but stopped when neither of us could come up with anything conclusive.

The next few days were passed with me looking over my shoulder, thinking Black might appear at any moment. But considering that we were being followed wherever we went, I don't think there was much chance of that happening. Percy Weasley and all the professors were watching Harry like hawks; Cedric was doing the same to me. Professor McGonagall summoned Harry into her office, saying she didn't want him practicing Quidditch in the evenings anymore, but he got her to ask Madam Hooch to oversee their training sessions.

"It's good that you're still training," I said to Harry that night. "It'll get your mind off things." He nodded and I could tell he was grateful for it too.

The only problem with this scenario is that Malfoy is still playing the injured party two months after his cut. This is really starting to get annoying. I even think the rest of the Slytherins have caught on to what he's doing, but are going along with it just so they have an excuse to stir up more trouble. Gryffindor is playing Hufflepuff in the first match of the season and Cedric is the Hufflepuff seeker. He just got the position this year. I'm going to do my best to cheer on both of them, but I don't know how well that's going to go down. I overheard one of Cedric's friends asking him if his friend, little Miss Angkatell, was going to cheer for him instead of famous Harry Potter. Cedric gave a very diplomatic answer and said that he was sure I would cheer for them both as they're both my friends. I gave a sigh of relief at that, but I don't think his friend was very pleased.

Something interesting though, two days before the match, we had Defense Against the Dark Arts and Snape was teaching it instead of Lupin. He taught us about werewolves, gave Ron detention and almost made Hermione cry. She tried to explain that we hadn't reached werewolves yet and then answered the question Snape asked us correctly. He took five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn even though the answer was right. That man is insufferable! But all the same, I can't help but wonder why he was teaching the lesson and why Snape was making us learn about werewolves.

Then came the Quidditch match and to make things even worse than they already were, there was a raging thunder storm outside. Of course they weren't going to cancel a Quidditch match for a trifle like a thunder storm (Oliver Wood's words, not mine), but I still wished they would postpone the match until they had decent conditions. The match began and I could see immediately that Harry was having problems. The winds were so strong that Harry was almost knocked off his broom. Nimbus 2000 brooms are made for speed, not durability during rain and Harry, like most seekers, is light and speedy which makes it easier for him to fly quickly. Cedric is strong and heavy, so his weight kept him from being buffeted by the wind.

"Harry doesn't stand a chance!" Ron shouted over the wind. "The weather's too strong!"

"Don't be such a pessimist!" I shouted back. "He'll be fine!"

But that wasn't true and we all knew it. He was fighting to stay on his broom as the rain fell. I could also see that the rain was getting in his eyes and he was having vision problems. He and Cedric went shooting after the Snitch, but then I saw Harry stop abruptly and it wasn't hard to see why. The wave of misery and depression washed over the entire Quidditch pitch and all of a sudden, I was no longer on the Hogwarts grounds, but back in my nightmare. I could see my sister running through the woods, trying to get away from Bellatrix Lestrange, I could hear Bellatrix coming up behind her, I could even smell the pine trees. I couldn't help it, I passed out again.

I woke up a few minutes later, giving another scream as I did. Hermione and Ron were kneeling down next to me.

"Leslie, are you all right?" asked Hermione.

I was shaking just as badly, if not worse, than I did that night on the train. I wasn't all right at all. Apparently, well over 100 dementors had entered the Quidditch pitch and decided to feed on the emotions of all the student body. Dumbledore was furious, he sent them straight off. They affected Harry too. He fell off his broom, fell well over 100 feet, but Dumbledore managed to catch him. Cedric caught the Snitch, then looked down to see what was going on. He tried to get a rematch, but he got it fair and square. It looks like I fainted at the same time as Harry. I almost fell over the side of the stands, but Hermione caught me just in the nick of time.

Harry was taken straight to the hospital wing and the rest of us all went to see if he was all right. I wanted a glass of brandy after what I had just been through anyway. Hermione conjured up a glass for me after we had gotten back into the castle. While we were waiting for Harry to wake up, Professor Flitwick came in with a bundle in his arms. Harry's broom got blown away after he fell off and it flew right into the Whomping Willow. I gasped when I saw the tangle of twigs and branches that was all that's left of the broom. Poor Harry. He was so broken-hearted over the loss of his broom. I didn't know what to do to make him feel better.

He was released from the hospital wing this morning and I've spent this entire day trying to figure out how Black got into the grounds and how we can stop him. This whole thing is going to come to a head pretty soon. Harry's going to figure out the secret I've been keeping from, Black is going to find us, the dementors are going to keep coming after Harry and I unless we can find a way to fight them. This is all just too much. I can't wait until Christmas. I'm going home to Uncle Jerry and I can just get away from all this for awhile. But I might not go home. We'll have to see. I may have to stay here and be with my friends. But we'll have to see what goes on. Sweet dreams little diary. I'm sure you'll have better dreams than I will.

Love,

Leslie

**Author's Note:** All right, so that's the next chapter done. What did you think? I really wanted the focus of it to be the lesson with the boggart so that I could reveal that Leslie had subdued anger hidden beneath the surface of her mind. She isn't even aware that she is this angry, but seeing Bellatrix Lestrange again makes it surface.

In the next chapter is going to be Christmas, Harry getting the Firebolt and I don't know what else. I haven't decided whether or not Leslie is going to stay at Hogwarts with the others over Christmas break yet, but I don't think she is. I think I'm going to have her spend her break with her uncle. Harry's also going to find out that Black betrayed his parents and he's going to figure out that Leslie knew about it.

One more thing, I'm soon going to write a Harry Potter one shot and when it comes up, it would mean a lot to me if you all would read it. It's going to be a songfic to "You Raise Me Up," originally performed by Josh Groban, but the link I'm going to put on my profile to the song is going to be the Celtic Woman version of "You Raise Me Up." It'll be available soon. Thanks for staying with this story! Stay tuned!


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